


Changing Tides

by KittenoftheKitchen



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Lifeguards, Slow Burn, University, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-02
Updated: 2018-06-14
Packaged: 2019-05-01 06:09:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 40,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14514198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittenoftheKitchen/pseuds/KittenoftheKitchen
Summary: Arya Stark has returned from her co-op year in Braavos to finish up her degree at Storms End University. When her friend Willow convinces her to rent a basement apartment in a house with five other people, she never expected that she would find a new family, let alone something more.Forgive me, I'm terrible at summaries





	1. The Wonders of Coffee

Arya sighed and closed the lid of her laptop. Much to her surprise, the clock on the wall of the coffee shop read 3:23am, well past her usual bedtime. At least, she thought to herself, her abnormal psychology assignment was done, and she could still catch a few hours of sleep instead of pulling an all nighter. Standing up from the table, she slipped her laptop into her backpack and tossed her empty coffee cup into the recycling bin sitting 8 metres away. The thunk of the cup hitting the bottom of the bin was a pleasant surprise, even at 3am she was capable of scoring a solid three points. Tucking in her chair, Arya moved to the entrance of the shop, switched off the light, and turned the alarm on, before slipping out the door, letting it lock behind her.

As she stepped into the street, the brisk breeze of the night jolted her awake in the same way that her multiple cups of coffee had in the hours previous. She loved studying late at the cafe; it was always so quiet and supplied her with the sweet nectar she so desperately relied on during midterms. Arya had instantly fallen in love with the warm cozy atmosphere when she first visited, and soon befriended the owner and head barista HP, who let her stay long after the cafe closed to the public, so long as she locked up. HP was a really nice guy, outgoing and friendly with the best coffee in town. Arya often teased him about his name, as he would never tell her what it stood for. She had a secret hunch that his parents had been huge Potterheads and had named him Harry Potter, though this suspicion was unsubstantiated especially considering he had only seen the first few films, and thought the books far too long to even attempt. Despite his distaste for reading, HP seemed to understand that studying in a quiet environment was important, and provided Arya a respite from her house filled with 6 other people which was always bustling. And it was there that she was headed now, a ten minute walk away across campus.

The night may have been cool, but it was sweet relief from the heat and humidity which plagued the late September days in Storms End. Then again, Arya thought to herself, she could not complain after spending a year co-oping in the sweltering heat of Braavos, where wearing anything other than a tank top and shorts was unbearable. Despite the heat, she had thoroughly enjoyed her year there, finally getting to apply what she had learned in her psychology courses during the previous two years. But now she was back, finishing up the last year of her undergraduate degree where she began three years ago, at Storm's End University.

As she crossed campus, Arya noticed a handful of other students milling around like zombies, either taking study breaks, or heading back from a late night at a library. Midterms season always reminded her of a graveyard brought to life, the result of widespread stress and sleep deprivation. The stars were out though, shining bright against the deep inky sky, while the moon hid behind a patch of cloud, causing it to have a beautiful luminous glow. The night sky, Arya decided, was one of the few benefits of studying late. That, and a coffee paired with a the sunrise over the sea to welcome in a new day. The sunrise would have to be left for another day however, as Arya arrived at her door, realising just how exhausted she was.

She crept in the house as quietly as possible, not wanting to wake up her housemates, and tiptoed down the stairs. Originally, Arya had rented out the basement with her friend Willow, but had soon grown close to the five others living in the rest of the house, essentially turning them into one large family. While this allowed everyone free range of the house, Arya and Willow’s rooms remained in the basement, giving them slightly more privacy than was afforded to the others. Switching on the light in the main living space, Arya found Willow asleep on the sofa with her laptop lying open next to her. She stirred as Arya drew closer.

“Whattime is it?” She slurred through closed eyes.

“Nearly four. I’m heading to bed, you probably should too,” Arya replied gently.

“Hmmmm. Thas a good idea…” Willow’s head slumped against the cushions again, making it clear where she would be sleeping for the rest of the night. Arya laughed quietly and picked up a blanket laying on the beanbag chair next to her, throwing it over her friend. At least now it would feel more like a bed for Willow, she thought to herself. And on that note, Arya found herself climbing into her own bed, dropping off to sleep right away.

She was rudely awoken a few hours later by her obnoxious alarm clock, in its attempt to wake her up in time for her 10am abnormal psych class. Sorely tempted to smash the clock against the wall and return back to sleep, Arya remembered that her assignment was due. There was no way she was going to take a late mark after working past 3am on the stupid thing, and so she begrudgingly found herself out of bed and getting dressed. She slipped on some shorts and a T-shirt, quickly pushed her hair back into a ponytail, and stepped into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. Arya inspected her face in the mirror and found a new pimple on her temple and darker bags under her eyes, likely the reward of her late night. Other than that, she looked the same as usual, fairly plain with no makeup on, and the same standard ponytail that she always sported. Everything about her look was simple and functional, just as Arya liked it, after all, she wasn’t trying to impress anyone.

After giving herself a quick once over, Arya left the basement, and headed for the kitchen, hoping to grab some breakfast before heading to class. Oddly enough, there was a girl she had never seen before sitting at the kitchen counter, drinking some orange juice. Hearing Arya’s footsteps, the girl turned, a smile growing on her face. When she realised it was just Arya however, her face fell, obviously looking for someone else. “Uhhh hi there,” Arya started, not really sure what else to say.

“Hi,” was all the girl said in response. This wasn’t the first time a strange girl had turned up for breakfast, in fact, it was happening more and more frequently, Arya mentally noted. With that in mind, she shrugged it off and walked into the pantry to grab some cereal, pulling out her phone to chew out her housemate too.

Arya: Assuming its one of ur friends whos in the kitchen again?

Gendry: This ones a grade A clinger… get rid of her for me pls?

Arya: Im not here to do ur dirty work

Gendry: I already did the dirty work last nite, just need help with the clean up ;)

Arya: Dickhead.

Gendry: Plsssssss? She wont leave me alone

Arya: No.

Gendry: A weeks worth of coffee on me?

Arya: Ten days.

Gendry: Fine. Its a deal then.

Arya: Its a deal you pig

Gendry: Thnx <3

Arya: Keep ur fucking <3 u manwhore

Great. Now she had to get rid of another one of Gendry’s girls, which only felt like condoning his piggish behaviour. It made her angry knowing how he used them, and hated being the one to perpetuate it more. But a deal was a deal, so emerging from the pantry with a box of Raisin Bran, Arya struck up a conversation with the girl.

“So, you must be Jaime’s new girlfriend right?”Arya exclaimed in a high pitched voice she reserved for annoying customers, and whenever she had to play a peppy bimbo type character.

“Oh, uh no I’m…” The girl trailed off. Arya imagined how she would complete that sentence; Gendry’s hookup/one night stand/future girlfriend? She didn’t find out however, as she cut the girl off in an even squeakier tone.

“Oh my, I’m so sorry! There’s so many people in this house it’s hard to keep track of all the partners, what with Gendry’s fiancee, and Jaime’s new girlfriend, and the various boyfriends of all the other girls. You must be one of Margaery’s dates!” The girl turned a deep shade of scarlet, and smiled nervously, visible unsure of what to do. “Oh gosh, I’m sorry. If you’re not out yet or something, don’t worry, I won’t say anything to anyone!” Arya continued and shot her a reassuring smile while the girl grew even more red.

“I’m not… Umm… Wow, is it already 9:30? I need to get going!” The girl stammered, “It was nice meeting you.” “You too! I hope things work out for you and Margaery!” Arya called out to her, as the poor girl fled from the kitchen. Seconds later, she heard the front door slam shut, followed by the sounds of footsteps coming down the stairs.

Gendry walked into the kitchen, and Arya narrowed her eyes at him. “Thanks for that,” He said sheepishly.

“I’m never doing that again.” Arya let her anger seep into her voice.

“What did you tell her to make her go?”

“I told her that you have a fiancee and then accused her of being Margaery’s girlfriend.”

“You’re a genius, Arya Stark.”

“You’re a manwhore Gendry Waters.”

“She wanted to hook up with me!” Gendry tried to defend himself.

“I think she expected a lot more than a hookup from you. Hell, I think you led her to believe she’d get more from you, and then you call her clingy when you don’t hold up,” Arya hissed at him.

“Hey, its not my fault all the ladies want to date me!”

“God you’re a self absorbed prick!” With that, Arya grabbed the tea towel from the oven and began whipping him on the arm with it as hard as she could.

“Ow! Stop it, stop it!” Gendry yelped, “I’ll try to be less of a man whore I promise, just stop it!”

Arya hooked the towel back over the oven. “You’re lucky we’re housemates, otherwise I wouldn’t be so nice,” Arya grinned at him.

“You? Nice?” Gendry scoffed, “There’s a lot of words that would describe you, but nice is not one of them. Unlike me, I’m so nice that I’ll fix you your morning coffee right now, in a travel mug no less, because I know you have to leave for class in five minutes.”

“Oh how kind of you,” Arya spat sarcastically, “upholding your end of the deal. I really appreciate that. Just remember I want one sugar and--”

“And steamed milk, trust me Arya, I know.” Gendry winked at her. Sitting at the kitchen counter eating her Raisin Bran, Arya watched him go about the coffee making process. There was no doubt why Gendry got so many girls, objectively he was very handsome, and came across as genuine guy, unlikely to sleep around. The latter was the complete opposite of the truth however, leading Arya to only really see him as a fuckboy. They were friends, and there was no one else that she would rather watch the football with, spare Jon, but that was all.

“Voila m’lady. Un cafe au Arya, ready to go!” Gendry turned and placed the travel mug in front of her.

“If you’re going to start calling me m’lady, you should probably go and buy yourself a fedora to tip at the same time you know,” Arya commented.

“You really can’t just say thank you?” Gendry raised an eyebrow.

Arya groaned, “Thank you Gendry.”

“My pleasure! Now don’t forget your assignment, and get your ass to class Stark.” Arya stood up and grabbed her backpack, heading for the front door. “Don’t forget its family dinner tonight either, 7pm sharp!” Gendry yelled from the kitchen.

“I’ll see if I can make it!” And with that, Arya stepped out into the daylight, ready to face the day with coffee in hand.


	2. Life's a Beach

After she had attended class and handed in her assignment, Arya found herself with little left to do for the rest of the day.  While she had assignments due for the following week, it seemed that after a grueling night of work she deserved a break. A little bit of procrastination never hurt anyone right? That’s what the weekend was for anyways.  After some deliberation, Arya decided that maybe the afternoon would be perfect for a trip down to the beach; sun, sand, and whatever else the Storms End coast had to throw at her.

As she walked back home to get changed, Arya reminisced on all the good times she had on the beach during the summers, both working as a lifeguard there, and for leisure.  She had worked with an amazing guard team; cheerful, fun-loving people who were great at their job, especially important as they were responsible for saving lives. She tried to block out the few bad outcomes that often swam to mind when she thought about that responsibility;  Storm’s End Beach had a nasty rip that had a habit of pulling poor swimmers out to sea, leaving the guards scrambling. Most of the time it resulted in a close call and lucky save, but other times she hadn’t been so fortunate. Shaking her head in an attempt to rid herself of those thoughts, Arya chose to reflect more on the happier times.

When summer hours began for the beach, lifeguards had to be there from 8am to 8pm, which began one week after the end of classes.  Four teams consisting of four guards were assembled, each of which would work every other day at one of the two guard towers. They would work long 12 hour shifts with their team, allowing Arya to become as close as family with her fellow guards.  Arya, Mycah, Willow, and her sister Jeyne had made up Delta team, which Arya liked to believe was the best team on the beach, but could never actually prove. So many fun memories and bad sunburns; despite it only ending six weeks previous, Arya missed her team, even though she was still living with Willow.

Surprisingly, it was actually through that job that they found the house;  Gendry had been a guard on Alpha team, and had posted the offer for the basement rental in the tower.  Willow had happened to see it, and goaded Arya into rooming with her. The rest, as they say, was history.  

Heading towards the house, Arya figured that she would send a message to the house group chat, and see if anyone wanted to join her.

Arya:  _ Heading to the beach for the afternoon. Anyone wanna keep me company? _

Lyanna:  _ I wish.  Damn my stupid chemistry midterm :( _

Margaery:  _ I’m in! _

Jaime:  _ I’ll be there too, gotta leave early for dinner prep tho _

Gendry:  _ I’m always up for getting my tan on _

Arya:  _ Ok sounds good guys! Meet me at the house in ten, and we’ll go from there _

Arya:  _ Also Willow and Shae when you see this feel free to meet us there _

With that matter settled, Arya opened the front door and headed down to her room.  The advantage of being a lifeguard, she thought to herself, was that it justified buying all the beachwear one could imagine. Arya pulled on a bikini with towelling shorts and a thin cover up top.  Grabbing her favourite fluffy beach towel, she shoved it into a drawstring bag and threw in a tube of sunscreen. She was not nearly as pale as she was when she lived in Winterfell, but Arya’s fair skin did not tend to stand up to the hot southern sun in the same way that it did for the others.

Going back upstairs to the kitchen, the others were starting to assemble.

“Oh Arya! Do you think I could borrow a swim top?” Margaery asked.

“Sure, go grab one.  Third drawer of my dresser, should be a bunch on the left that you can choose from,” Arya replied with a smile.

“Thank you!” She heard Margaery call back to her as she headed for the stairs.

“Aviators or Ray Bans?” Jaime asked no one in particular.

“Definitely the aviators,” Gendry clapped him on the shoulder, “The Ray Bans show just how massive your nose is mate.”

“Oi!”

“I’m only joking, don’t worry, it’s not that big, it's actually that gap between your eyes that you have to worry about.” Jaime’s hand immediately flew to the bridge of his nose, a reaction which Gendry must have preempted as he smacked his hand over Jaime’s.

“Fuck! You’re an asshole Waters!”  

Gendry laughed at his own stupid prank, while Arya just shook her head,“I swear to god, I am living with the most immature children ever,” she muttered.

“And yet you love us anyways!” Jamie shot her his 100V dazzling smile, while Arya rolled her eyes in annoyance. 

“Does someone want to grab the cooler so that we can bring some drinks?” Margaery re emerged from the basement with one of Arya’s blue bikinis peeking out from underneath her tank top. 

“Sure thing boss.  You guys want beers or something else?” Gendry asked.

“Woah easy man, it’s barely even the afternoon.  Stick to soft drinks for now, jeez,” Jaime interjected. 

“Okay, okay, will do,” Gendry grabbed the cooler and wandered into the pantry. Once Gendry returned from replenishing the cooler, everyone was ready, and they left the house to begin the 15 minute walk down to the beach.  Everyone joked around as they walked, happy to be done midterms and taking an afternoon to enjoy themselves.

After summer officially ended and everyone returned back to school, the lifeguarding program packed up too.  Storm’s End officially became a “swim at your own risk” beach, replacing the lifeguards with flags signalling the strength of the rip, and therefore the care that beachgoers should take while swimming.  Ayra noted the yellow flag was raised as they headed down the boardwalk, telling swimmers to swim with caution, and not go too far out. Looking out over the sea, she could tell the flags were largely ineffective at deterring swimmers, and were primarily a method of preventing lawsuits against the city.

When her feet left the boardwalk, Arya smiled and slipped off her flip flops, letting her toes sink into the sun heated sand.  Most of the others followed suit, and the group walked closer to the shoreline. 

“I’d say here is about right,” Jaime said, indicating to the slightly more quiet section of the beach. 

“Perfect!” Margaery clapped her hands together and began to roll out her towel.  Arya followed suit and began to apply sunscreen liberally, while the others settled around them.

“So swimming or sand?” Jaime asked.

“I’m going with sand for now, the water can wait,” Gendry replied, folding his arms behind his head and laying back.

“I think we’re all with you there,” Margaery agreed. 

The four of them lay under the warm southern sun, the sound of the waves crashing on the beach providing the perfect backtrack to a relaxing day.  It wasn’t long however until Jaime grew restless and decided the beautiful scenery provided the perfect backdrop for a photoshoot. 

“One more picture, please?” Arya rolled her eyes at Jaime, who had now changed positions to try and show off the definition on his deltoid. “Come on Arya, take some in portrait too.”

“You’re lucky I even agreed to take a few let alone--” Arya trailed off, noticing something in the edge of the screen.  “Fuck! Gendry, double clutch!”

Gendry, who had been seemingly asleep while sunbathing suddenly shot to his feet, and took off with Arya towards the shoreline.  Jaime watched them go, confused as to what justified Arya dropping his phone in the sand and sprinting off to the water with Gendry.  

“Oh my god, there’s a kid drowning out there!” Margaery yelled from beside him.  She and Jaime watched as their roommates began to swim out to the kid who was 50m out and quickly disappearing underneath the waves.

“What do you mean double clutch?” Gendry yelled to Arya as they did a head up approach.

“The kid who is drowning, he was shoving another one under trying to stay afloat!”

“Fuck!”

“You take the one who’s still conscious, remember to be defensive, he’s going to try and drag you under too to stay afloat.” Arya panted.

“Are you sure you’ll be able to manage the dead weight?”

“I have to find him first. Then we’ll see.”

There wasn’t time to argue.  The rip which the kids were caught in had luckily pulled Arya and Gendry out to them quickly.

“Swim parallel to shore to get out of this rip.  And if it’s too dangerous don’t put your life on the line too, just swim away!” Gendry called to Arya, disappearing under the water to grab the flailing kid.  Arya dived under too. She knew she was looking for a fairly small child, who was likely to remain closer to the surface of the water. With no goggles on though, she was blind, and could feel that she was getting pulled further out to see.  Suddenly, she felt something hit her, and Arya grabbed at what appeared to be an arm. The body was dead weight as she pulled it up towards the surface. 

Gendry had grabbed the other kid, pushing him to the surface, as the small child stopped flailing and started coughing instead.  “Hey it’s going to be okay, I’ve got you,” Gendry tried to reassure him. The current was strong, but as he swam across the beach, it weakened, finally allowing him to head back to shore.  Looking back he still couldn’t see Arya, until she broke the surface, sputtering, holding another small child underneath the arms. Gendry breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that she was safe and would at least be able to swim out of the rip, even if she couldn’t save the kid.  He focused on getting back to shore as fast as possible, knowing that if he wanted to help her, he had to first make sure his kid was safe.

On the shore, a crowd of onlookers was gathering.  Margaery called 999 while Jaime had run into the shallow water to help Gendry.

“Take this kid up the beach, get him a towel or a blanket, and turn him away from the water so he can’t see it.  Yell at me if his coughing gets worse or if he can’t breathe.” Jaime listened carefully, and nodded when Gendry was done. “One more thing too, reassure him as much as possible, try and find out who he is, who the other kid is, and where their parents are.”

“I’ve got it mate.” And with that, Jaime took the kids arm and walked him up the beach.

As soon as Jaime had the kid, Gendry turned to help Arya who was still fighting the current about 20m out.

“Unconscious, non breathing!” Arya yelled out to him as he approached, “We’re going to have to resuscitate!”

“Don’t worry about that now, let’s just get him to shore ok?” Gendry tried his best to reassure her.  The swim went a lot faster with the two of them helping, and when the water was shallow enough to stand, Arya lifted the child’s torso, while Gendry grabbed his legs, and they ran up to the dry sand.  

“Water rescue, breaths first,” Arya reminded herself, tilting the kid’s head back and lifting his chin, then giving two full breaths.

“Are you okay to do compressions? I’m going to go grab the AED from the surf club,” Gendry asked.

Arya only nodded beginning to start the thirty chest compressions.  They were hard work, and she didn’t want to waste any time or energy talking.  She soon dropped into the rhythm; two breaths, thirty compressions, and lost track of how many times she had been through it until the sound of sirens cut through her concentration. Sitting back on her heels for just a second to look where the ambulances were, Ayra focused on her patient again, and could have sworn she saw his chest rise.

“I’ve got the AED!” Gendry yelled running towards them.

“Ok, set it up, I think I saw a chest rise.”

“You sure?”

With that, the kid began to throw up, and Arya flipped him over into semi prone position.

“Well that’s a good sign,” Gendry breathed a sigh of relief.

“Just help me get his airway clear, then we’ll reassess.”

But before they even had a chance to check the child’s breathing again, the paramedics arrived, pushing Gendry and Arya to the side and taking over.  They watched from afar as the child was placed on a gurney and loaded into the ambulance. As quickly as the incident had started, it was all over. Unlike when they were working as lifeguards, there was no incident report to file, no team debrief into the quality of the rescue or things that could have been done differently, no parents tracked down to thank them profusely, and no sense of accomplishment created by a successful rescue.  They knew nothing, and all the first responders seemed to be largely ignoring them. That was, until the EMT walked over to the two of them, reminding them to hang around so that they could provide information for the police report.

So, while waiting for the police to arrive, Arya walked down to the edge of the water, letting the waves reach just between her toes, before falling away again.  Gendry sat down beside her, handed her a can of lemonade from their cooler, and followed her gaze out over the ocean. After a moment of nothingness, Gendry broke the silence.

“Well that was crazy.”

Arya nodded, “I didn’t think, I just went for it.  But we didn’t have boards out there or even a tube.  If the rip was stronger…” She trailed off.

“Let’s just consider ourselves lucky it wasn’t then.”

“Do you think the kids will be okay?”

“The one I grabbed will be fine, though he’ll probably have a fear of the sea for life now.”

“What about the one I rescued?”

“I don’t know Arya.  Maybe we’ll just have to wait and see, I don’t know if they’ll tell us either way.”

“I didn’t keep track of how many cycles of CPR I did,” Arya stated.

“What are you talking about?” Gendry turned to look at her, her grey eyes storming over.

“We’re supposed to keep track of how many cycles of CPR that we do.  I made a mistake,” Arya clarified.

“That doesn’t matter.  It matters that you were doing CPR in the first place, otherwise he wouldn’t have been resuscitated.  You can’t blame yourself if he doesn’t make it Arya.”

“I know.  I just…” Arya trailed off, “I feel responsible.  We still don’t know who the parents of those kids are, and we ended up being responsible for their lives.”

“Arya, we saved their lives, nothing more.  They were lucky you even saw them, or knew that one had been pushed under the water. You were a hero today.”  Gendry wrapped his arm around Arya’s shoulders.

“You were too,” Arya replied quietly, leaning in to his side hug.  They remained there watching the waves crash into the sand until the officer came to interview them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may have gone a little too overboard with the lifeguarding stuff, but it's my job, and once I started writing about it, I couldn't stop. It's important to include that kinda stuff in here as it helps to develop the relationship between Arya and Gentry by creating common ground with emotional connections. Sorry if that bores anyone! Thank you to everyone who left kind comments on the last chapter, I really appreciate it!


	3. Family Dinner

When all the paperwork was done, the sun was about to set, leaving Arya and Gendry to walk home together in the dusk.  The others had left before they had even given their police statements, and it seemed that most of the beach had packed up early too, scared away from swimming by the incident.  Gendry and Arya had been told that they would likely be contacted again, whether it be by the family of the children, or by the police needing to polish up their report. Arya hoped that the family would call; it was completely irresponsible to let two small kids swim alone in the ocean, made even worse by the fact that the parents weren’t even on the beach.  If she got the chance to chew those parents out, she sure as hell would take it.

“So do you reckon that I’ll still have to help with family dinner when we get home?” Gendry tried to lighten the mood.  Family dinners were the attempt at creating a longstanding tradition in the house. Every other Friday evening, two or three people would take turns cooking for everyone, so that they could all eat together, while discussing any grievances, chores or maintenance that was necessary for the house, and generally catching up on gossip.  This particular Friday, Gendry, Lyanna, and Jaime were supposed to prepare dinner, much to Arya’s relief as her cooking skills were best described as non-existent. After the afternoon that they had however, she figured it would be a little unfair to make Gendry cook.

“Do you really think that saving some kids lives gets you out of cooking?” Arya joked, “If it were that easy to get out of it, I would have started paying little kids to fake drown in the summer.”  Gendry laughed at that, but it was a hollow laugh. The events of the afternoon weighed heavy on both of their minds, and while humour was a good way to cope with it, neither of them were in a particularly comical mood.

“I guess we’ll just have to see then.  If they make me cook, so be it. I’m just thankful I won’t have to be eating something you’ve prepared this evening.” Gendry bumped Arya.

She sighed, know that he was absolutely right, “Touché Mr.Waters.” They continued walking in silence for a bit, lost in thought and unsure of what to say next.  

“They’re all going to ask what happened you know,” Gendry started, “at dinner, especially Willow and Shae since they weren’t there.  Are you up for that?”

“I guess so.”

“Are you sure?” What a stupid question, Arya thought. How could she be sure, when the only way to describe her feelings at the moment was shaken.  Would she start bawling and want to curl up and on the floor just from talking about it? Hardly, she had done other rescues before, ones that hadn’t gone so well.  But this one was different because she hadn’t been working and on guard; it had been a lucky spot on Arya’s part. And that’s what made her hesitate and feel uneasy about the whole thing.

Arya stopped and turned to him, “Are you up for it?” she countered

“I can handle it.”

“Are you sure?” Arya turned the question on to him.

He paused for a second, then answered, “I’m sure because then we only have to relive it once, in front of everyone.  After that, I’d rather just place a moratorium on discussing it again.”

“That I can live with,” Arya agreed.

As they reached the door to the house, Arya’s steps faltered.  She didn’t want to be seen any differently than five hours previous, and she didn’t want to have to answer a million questions which would only cause her to pick apart the incident more, driving her crazy.  Gendry noticed her falling back a little, stopped walking and turned to her.

“It’s going to be okay Ar, I’ve got your back, so don’t worry okay?”

Arya sighed and shot him a half smile, “Okay,” she responded, but didn’t sound convinced.

“Come here,” Gendry said softly, opening his arms and wrapping them around Arya in a tight hug. “You sure as hell better have my back too.” When Arya broke away she could see he was smiling.

“Yeah yeah, I suppose I can have your back too,” she agreed.

“Well then, let’s go face the music!” Gendry gestured his arm in a sweeping motion towards the door, then went to open it for Arya.

The smell of cooking pasta and garlic bread greeted them as soon as they stepped in the door.  The next thing to greet them came in the form of a ball of energy barrelling at them in full force.  Lyanna let out a squeal as she went crashing into Arya, wrapping her in a tight hug. 

“Hey Ly,” Arya managed to squeak out from the tight embrace, leaning on the door to somehow remain in the vertical.

“You two are absolutely ridiculous,” Lyanna yelled, releasing Arya as suddenly as she had hit her, and turning to Gendry to give him the same treatment. “Swimming into that bloody current, what the hell were you two thinking?”

“It would be much easier to explain when we’re all sitting down for dinner, okay?” Gendry said, letting go of Lyanna.

“You had better.  Plus it meant that Jaime and I had to cook together, without your help, and after the midterm I just wrote, it was not appreciated.”

“Is organic chemistry really that bad?” Arya asked her as they walked into the kitchen.

“It’s worse.  I had to memorize 30 different reactions and all of their products, including whether or not it was a sin addition or a goddamn Markovnikov reaction or fuck knows what else.  And to make it worse, only half of the reactions show up on the damn thing, so I put in all this work to try and know everything inside and out, and only half of that was useful.  Plus, I don’t even know the purpose of memorizing all the reactions, when in any real life situation, you can just google them!”

Lyanna was the only freshman in the house, the youngest of all of them, and had a habit of acting like it too.  Not that she was immature, rather that she just always had energy, and could talk anyone’s ear off if they let her.  She was also the only one of them studying chemistry, which was a shame, as with six other older students, Arya would have thought at least one of them could help tutor her through it.  But no, Shae, in her third year, was studying history, Margaery was in the first year of her masters degree in English, Jaime was in his fourth year of architecture, and Willow was a second year maths student, while Gendry was doing his final year of mechanical engineering. 

“I didn’t understand most of that, but it sounds fairly awful,” Gendry interjected.  Before Lyanna could begin another rant, Jaime yelled that dinner was ready, saving Arya from another earful of confusing chemistry mumbo jumbo.

As everyone gathered around the table, grabbing plates and serving themselves the meal, Arya smiled properly for the first time in hours, reminded of just why family dinners were so important.  Everyone being in the same place for once, good food, and great conversation gave her a warm fuzzy feeling of happiness and wholeness; something which was hard to achieve being so far away from her family in Winterfell.  When everyone had finally settled down into their seats, Jaime proposed a toast.

“To our two badass lifeguards for saving the day today,” Jaime paused for a second then continued, “even if it meant that a certain someone got out of helping prepare this fine meal.  Cheers!” Gendry rolled his eyes while everyone raised their glasses joined in on the toast.

“Does this mean we can finally hear what happened then?” Lyanna piped up.

“I want to hear this straight from you two as well, by the sounds of it, it was a crazy rescue,” Willow seconded Lyanna’s question.

Gendry looked to Arya and she nodded, “I suppose it all started when Jaime decided that he wanted a photoshoot on the beach. I noticed a weird cluster of pixels on the screen in the ocean, and when I looked past the phone screen, it turned out that it wasn’t just a glitch, but two kids fighting the current and each other,” Arya explained.

“Double clutch with no aids?” Willow asked, “That’s bloody dangerous, even with the two of you.”

“Now that I think about it, I agree completely Willow, but in the moment I just followed my instincts and ran right into the water,” Arya shrugged.

“I’ve had incidents like that before though; I can’t say it was my first time dragging a swimmer out of the current without a guard board,” Gendry added, in an attempt to downplay the severity of what had occured.

Willow scoffed, “Gendry we all know about Alpha team’s renegade approach to rescues.  And we also know what the cost was when they didn’t work out, so maybe instead of pretending that this was a completely safe--”

“I think you guys are missing the point here,” Jaime interrupted, “If I hadn’t been doing my photoshoot, then Arya would never have seen those kids, making me the true hero of all of this.  Photoshoots can save lives people!” Everyone around the table began to laugh, while Arya breathed a sigh of relief; Jaime’s attempt to defuse the tension growing between Gendry and Willow had worked.

Arya knew that Willow wasn’t trying to be difficult or antagonistic, and that it truly came from a place of concern for their well being.  It had been a risky choice to swim out there, especially when no one else would have been able to help them; a double rescue could have turned into a quadruple one. But she also knew her friend well, and she would put money on it that Willow was a little jealous that she wasn’t there to help.  The job of a lifeguard may be to preserve life, prevent deterioration, and promote recovery, but a rescue also gave guards an addicting buzz; the desire to be there when something goes wrong, the adrenaline rush and buzz after a successful save. Now the best that Willow could do was live vicariously through the rest of the story.  So Arya and Gendry continued to take turns explaining what happened while everyone tucked into their food.

“And then they eventually took our statements, and that was that,” Gendry finished.

“We were told that they may be in contact with us again but who knows,” Arya added.

The table was silent for a moment, until Lyanna let out a slow whistle and began to clap.  “You guys were totally badass today.”

 

*************

 

Arya lay awake in bed, staring up at the ceiling. While she had slept peacefully until about half an hour ago, she was now tossing and turning, trying to get back to sleep.  She heard the sound of soft footsteps padding down the stairs and into the kitchen; one of the others must be getting a glass of water or something, Arya thought to herself. Looking at her alarm clock, she was surprised to discover it was only 2am.  She had gone to bed rather early, exhausted from the late night before and the events of the afternoon, Arya had eaten dinner, read a few texts for class, and retired to her bed around 10pm. Now she wondered if the early night was a poor decision, leaving her unable to fall asleep again.

The sound of shattering glass upstairs disrupted her train of thought, and a quiet string of cursing followed.  With nothing better to do, Arya figured she would go and investigate, hoping that she wouldn’t find one of her roomates with a fistful of glass jammed in their hand.  She was so not up for doing anymore first aid, or driving to a hospital at two in the morning.

The scene that greeted her was luckily not an injured roommate, but was somehow even more alarming.  Gendry was standing in the kitchen, staring at the puddle of water and broken glass on the floor, his dark hair sticking up at all angles, contrasting his unusually pale face.  Arya couldn’t help but notice his shirtlessness either, which was easy on the eyes to say the least. Pushing that stupid thought aside, Arya made her way to him, trying her best to avoid the shards of broken glass covering the ground. Gendry remained frozen in place however, seemingly unaware of what to do, or even of Arya’s presence.

“Gendry?” She whispered, not wanting to wake anyone else up, “you doing okay?” The sound of her voice seemed to wake him from the trance that he was in.

“Shit I’m sorry, did I wake you up?”

“No, I was awake anyways. Are you okay?” Arya asked again.

“Yea, I’m fine, just a little clumsy, ya know,” He tried to shoot her a reassuring smile, but in his disheveled state, it came across as a little manic instead.

“Uhh huh,” Arya was unconvinced by his poor performance, “do you want me to get the dustpan and brush?”

“No, no it’s fine Arya, I’ve got it.  You should just go back to bed okay? Don’t worry about it.” Arya could tell that he was trying as hard as he could to put up a front.  Whatever was going on, he didn’t want to let her in on it, and despite the poor performance, Arya knew she should respect his limits.

“Okay, just wanted to make sure that no one was hurt or anything,” She responded and began to pick her way back towards the stairs.  When she reached them, she turned around again and locked eyes with Gendry, “Just remember that I’ve got your back, okay?” Arya recalled their conversation from earlier.

“Thank you.”

“Goodnight then,” Arya turned back and began to walk down the stairs.

“Arya, wait a second,” She heard Gendry call, as he appeared at the top of the stairs.

“What’s up?”

“Are you dreaming about it?”

“No, not yet at least.  To be fair though I’ve only had three hours of sleep,” Arya sighed, “It’s normal though, to dream about it, you know that.”

“I know,” Gendry rubbed his eyes and sighed, “It’s just never been like this before; the same dream repeating every single time I close my eyes. So now I can’t sleep, because if I watch it happen one more time, I might go crazy.”

“So prove to yourself that the worst outcome you’re dreaming about never occured.  I know that’s easier said than done, but if you can ground yourself to some reality, the dreams won’t be nearly as terrifying,” Arya explained.

“That’s kind of what I’m doing right now,” Gendry admitted. Arya shot him a quizzical look, unclear on what he meant, so he continued, “When we grabbed the kids, you had to dive to get the other one, while I started swimming back to shore.  You stayed underwater searching for so long, I was scared that maybe you were at the mercy of the current too. And that’s the dream that keeps on repeating; you never resurfacing. No matter how hard I swim, I can’t get out there and look for either you or the kid.” As he finished, Arya could see he was visibly upset, his brow was knitted and eyes clouded over, while he kept running a hand through his hair in an attempt to calm himself down.

She didn’t quite know what to say to that, and after a moment of silence between the pair of them, she sighed, “Shit. I’m sorry I scared you so much,”

“It’s not your fault, just my stupid brain,” Gendry looked sheepish, “Anyways I should probably let you get back to bed.”

“Gendry, if they’re that bad, you can sleep in my room. That way you know I’m right there when you wake up,” Arya offered. She had surprised herself by just blurting it out, not even thinking about how it would come across.  Thankfully, Gendry seemed to take it in the way it was intended.

“Thank you, but do you really think that would help?”

“May be worth a shot.  If the nightmares are making you shaky enough to drop glasses even when you’re awake, what’s the harm in trying something that could stop them, while at the same time definitely won’t make them worse?”

“I guess I’m lucky that you’re the psychology major Stark,” Gendry smiled at her, this time a little less manic, and more of the cocky smile that she was used to.  “One condition though, I’m not sleeping on the floor.” He winked at her making it clear that he was joking, but it did raise a good point.

“Actually I don’t even know if there’s space for you to sleep on the floor, it’s a bit of a mess right now honestly,” Arya admitted.

“Ooh does that mean I’ll be able to tell people I slept with the elusive Arya Stark?” Gendry joked as they walked down the stairs to her room.

Arya snapped around to face him, “Anymore jokes like that Waters, and my offer is going to be completely rescinded.”

Gendry held up his hands in defense, then mimed zipping his mouth shut and throwing away the key.  When they reached her room, he couldn’t help but be impressed by the state of it. Arya, who despite always seeming to have her shit together, had a chronic messy bedroom.

“Okay, you pick a side, and then don’t cross the line,” Arya stated. Gendry picked the right side of the bed and slipped in, Arya following suit on the left side.

“Shit, I never cleaned up the glass,” Gendry whispered in the dark. Arya groaned, not wanting to get up again.

“I’ll just message the group chat, let them know to be careful when they get up, and you can clean it up in the morning,” Arya reached for her phone and typed out the message, then laid it back down on her nightstand.

“Thanks Stark,” She heard Gendry whisper, before dropping back off to sleep for the rest of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gah I've been working a lot with mother's day coming up (retail is so much fun), so I didn't get the chance to edit this as much as I had hoped. Fingers crossed its not riddled with errors and is still comprehendible!


	4. Let's Get Physical

When Arya woke up, she was immediately aware of another presence in her bed.  She lay there, confused for a moment, before remembering the events of the night before.  Or more specifically, the events of 2am. Sitting up, she looked down at Gendry who was passed out peacefully beside her, his slow breathing assuring her that he was still deep asleep.  God he was handsome, Arya thought to herself. Where the hell had that intrusive thought come from? She knew that it wasn’t wrong, just that she had never felt the need to acknowledge it before.  Handsome Gendry was the same as Fuckboy Gendry, and she certainly felt no desire to get involved in a one night stand that would make living together for the rest of the year awkward as hell.

But maybe, Arya thought to herself, it was because she now saw him as more than just a guy who messes around with girls.  In the past 24 hours she had seen almost every side of him, from him being a complete asshole, to his kind and caring nature, to his serious and determined side, and even when he was scared and somewhat vulnerable.  It wasn’t easy to acknowledge that her previously man whorish housemate was actually a lot more than just that, especially when nothing had actually changed about him, but Arya knew she had to accept it. Maybe it wouldn’t such a bad thing to see him differently though, and perhaps she was a little proud that of all the girls that Gendry had ever shared a bed with, she was one of the few that had seen every side to him, and not just the two dimensional player that he so often presented. 

Arya grabbed her phone and was pleased to see that it was only 6:30.  Given that it was a Saturday, she could afford to sleep in till about 9.  Tossing thoughts of Gendry aside, Arya lay back down and pulled the duvet up to her neck, wriggling to get comfortable once again.  Luckily for her, sleep came quickly.

The next thing that Arya was aware of was someone shaking her shoulder vigorously. “Arya, wake up,” Gendry’s voice was in her ear.

“Stoppittt,” Arya slurred, angry to have been woken from her slumber, and buried her head under her pillow.

“Come on Arya, it's time to wake up,” Gendry tried to rip the pillow off her head, while she grasped it even tighter.

“Go away, you can get up if you want to,” her voice was muffled from underneath the pillow.

“Don’t make me force you to get up,” he warned, still trying to grab it off of her.

“What are you gonna do huh?” Arya asked, which she regretted about one second later as she got her answer.

The first thing that Gendry had ever found out about Arya, before even her name, was that she was extremely ticklish.  Jon had been on leave from the wall, and offered to help her move her things into the basement, an offer which she gladly accepted.  They had just finished the moving process, and were saying goodbye, a sad affair as Arya knew he wouldn’t be on leave again for another year.  Not wanting to see his sister upset, Jon resorted to tickling her before saying goodbye. Cue Gendry walking into the living room to see Arya sprawled out on the sofa laughing hysterically with tears streaming down her face, while Jon was tickling her mercilessly.  It had made the introductions a little awkward, sure, but Arya hadn’t really dwelled on it. Until now, that was.

The moment that Gendry began to tickle her sides, Arya began to kick and flail, trying to get him to stop.  Grabbing the pillow that had been covering her head, she began to hit him with it, a tactic which was largely ineffective until it broke, spilling feathers everywhere. 

“You fucking asshole Waters!” Arya yelled, trying to sound angry despite her constant and uncontrollable laughter.  Gendry refused to stop, but her flailing paid off, as she landed a solid kick to his gut, knocking the wind out of him. Diving under the covers again, Arya listened as he tried to catch his breath again.

After a while Gendry spoke, “I suppose I deserved that a bit, didn’t I?”  Arya didn’t say anything in response, and she heard him get up from the bed.  The carpet in her room and the duvet over her head made it impossible to hear footsteps, but she supposed that Gendry must have gotten the message and left her alone.  Turns out, she was wrong.

Out of nowhere, Arya felt the covers being ripped off her, and one second later, she was being lifted into the air.

“I hate you,” Arya grumbled as he gently set her on the floor.

“I’m sure you do, but now we’re even,” Gendry laughed.

“What?! How does that make it even?” Arya yelled.

“You kick me in the stomach, I force you out of bed. I call that even,” He explained.

“You forgot the part where you decided to assault me by tickling me, justifying the light high five with my foot to your stomach.  Forcing me out of bed means that I still get to have one over on you.”

“Looks like we’re going to have to agree to disagree on this one.” Gendry stood there with a smirk on his face, as if he had won.  If there were no consequences Arya would have definitely slapped it off him, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. “Anyways, aren’t you wondering why I was so insistent on getting you up?” 

“Because you’re a dickhead?” Arya sniped back at him.

“Why do so many girls accuse me of that the morning after I sleep with them?” Screw the consequences, Arya thought to herself, that comment justified her slapping him. Though instead of slapping him, she shoved him so hard that he fell down. Much to Arya’s distaste, he fell back onto the bed; a much softer landing than he deserved. 

“Oi, you keep trying to hurt me and I won’t tell you why I got you up,” Gendry growled at her.

“Fine,” Arya offered him her hand and pulled him up from the bed, “Now will you tell me what justified even violence to get me up?”

“Nope,” he popped the ‘p’ sound, “But I will show you.”  He tightened his grip on her hand and pulled her out of the bedroom, into the main space, then up the stairs.  Arya could hear that the TV was on as they climbed, and when Gendry led her into the living room she was surprised to find the others crowded around the TV.  There was slightly grainy cell phone footage playing, but Arya recognized it immediately.

“That’s from yesterday,” She said under her breath.  It was odd to watch, she was only a small blob on the screen, accompanied by a slightly smaller other blob; the kid she rescued.  She watched as TV her fought against the current, and for the first time, recognized just how dangerous it was out there. A wave of nausea hit her, and she was just about to ask for them to stop casting the footage on to the screen, when it cut away to a news reporter sitting at her desk.

“That is the footage of the amazing rescue.  Thankfully, both children survived and are currently under observation at Storm’s End General, while the family is hoping to get in contact with the two good samaritans. In other news, the high speed train line between Storms End and King’s Landing is nearing completion—” Jaime turned the TV off and turned to face Arya and Gendry.

“Isn’t that amazing?! You two made the news! And they want to get in contact with you, that means that they could be giving you money or something!” He exclaimed. 

“Yea, I guess so,” Arya trailed off, feeling positively ill.  Gendry looked down at her, instantly reading her discomfort with the situation. “I just need to go and get some air.” And with that, Arya practically ran out the front door. Gendry went to follow her, but Willow beat him to the punch.

“I’ll go, you’ve done enough,” Willow shot daggers at him, before following Arya’s path.  The rest of them looked around confused.

“I thought she’d be happy to see that…” Jaime trailed off.

“I think maybe it was a bit much,” Gendry replied quietly. He chewed on his lip and wondered what to do to help.

 

Meanwhile, Willow stood next to Arya as she leaned against the railing on their porch, staring down the street, not looking at anything in particular. 

“I would hate to see any footage of my rescues in the summer.  Soaking wet and looking like a drowned dog, while pulling some ungrateful kid with inattentive parents from the water is not a good look for me,” Willow started, “But to be honest, I couldn’t even tell who you were in that video so I’m going to say that’s not the issue here.” 

“I knew it was dangerous and the current was strong, I just don’t remember struggling that much. That video… thank god Gendry came back to help.”

“Well you had tunnel vision focussed on getting to shore, and you were full of adrenaline, so of course it didn’t feel like you were struggling.  It felt more like you were just pushing hard right?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“You give Gendry far too much credit too, I believe you would have made it back without him helping,” Willow continued, but Arya was too lost in thought to really acknowledge what she was saying.

“I could have died.  Could have been dragged all the way to Pentos by that current.”

Willow put her arm around her friend, “But you didn’t,” she said softly, “I know it’s not always easy to come to terms with, but you made it, and saved two lives along the way.  If it had really started going badly you could have gone back alone, or tread water until help arrived. Besides, Gendry would never have let you drown; if he had to, he would have saved you first.”

Arya turned to her and gave her a hug, “I guess you’re right.” She heard Willow scoff by her ear.

“Honey, I am always right, trust me.” Willow laughed and pulled away from the embrace. “Now I’m going to leave you out here to give you some space if you want, but try not to get too caught up in your own thoughts, okay?”

“Thank you,” Arya replied quietly.  Willow turned and left, leaving Arya alone in the morning air, with the sounds of birds chirping around her. She had no idea how much time had passed while she was out there, when Gendry materialized next to her.

“I just got off the phone with the parents,” He began, “They want to meet us, thank us in person I guess.”

“What did you say?”

“I told them I’d have to talk to you, see what you want to do.”

“I thought you wanted to meet them.”

“I just want to stand by you and what you want at this point.”

Arya turned to face him,  his steely blue eyes met her gaze. “Since when do I get to call the shots around here?”

“Since I stopped knowing if I was making the right decision. If I meet those parents, I’m either going to be so mad at them for being irresponsible and putting us in danger that all I do is yell, or I’m going to find out that it was just some terrible accident and I’m going to hate the universe.  At this point I don’t want to be angry, I just want to forget it ever happened.”

“What if Jaime is right, and they want to give us money?”

“No amount of money can make me forget it.”

“Gendry, nothing will ever make me forget it, with or without money.”

“I don’t want guilt money either, I’d rather they just invest it in a responsible nanny or something.”

“To be fair, we don’t even know if there’s money involved,” Arya sighed, “I don’t want to meet them.”

“Then we won’t.” They stood together in silence for a while after that, and eventually Gendry spoke again, “I’m really sorry that I got you up for something that upset you.  I didn’t think that one through.”

“You couldn’t have known.  Hell, I didn’t know it was going to bug me until I watched it. But seeing myself struggling to swim in… I never want to see myself so weak ever again.”

“Yeah, I get that.”

“It’s going to take a while for me to come to terms with all this, I know, but honestly I just want to get on with things.  It happened yesterday, and I’d rather just leave it there. In the summer I would be doing rescues every other day and they wouldn’t bug me, so why should this be seen as any different?” Arya asked.

“I don’t really want to think about the answer to that question to be quite honest with you,” Gendry grimaced at the thought, “But, I do know that just following our normal routines is the best way to just forget about all this.”

“Well then, looks like I’ll be grabbing my laptop and heading to HP’s for the remainder of my morning,” Arya stated straightening up from the railing.

“Guess I’m joining you then.  We did have a deal that I would be providing a week’s worth of coffee, and I always keep my end of a deal” Gendry smiled at her.

“Hey it’s ten days worth of coffee!”

Gendry laughed, “Fine, you caught me.”

“You should know better than to try and fuck with my coffee, Waters.  Besides, you said normal routine and the last time I checked, you have never spent your saturday mornings studying with me at HP’s.”

“Au contraire, Stark,” Gendry stood up from the railing and walked towards the front door, “I always spend my Saturday mornings with beautiful girls,” he gave her look once over and winked at her, then disappeared inside the house.  

Arya stood on the porch alone once again, her jaw slack, as she tried to process the fact that Gendry had just checked her out and flirted with her.  She tried her best to ignore all the butterflies that had erupted inside her stomach, and instead attempted to focus on how she would make him pay for that comment.  It was to no avail though, and she groaned as she realized that the butterflies refused to be ignored.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wrote this in a day, so who knows if I'll like the direction I took it in tomorrow (I'm indecisive) but needed to get something down after working so much over the weekend. Hope it's decent!


	5. Daddy Issues?

“Gah, I still can’t understand the difference between Wernicke’s aphasia and Broca’s aphasia,” Arya groaned, scanning her notes for the answer.

“Mmm, the two aphasia always get me confused as well,” Gendry mocked. Arya gave him a sharp kick underneath the table. 

“Just because you’re all mathematical and engineery, doesn’t mean you get to mock neuroscience and how difficult it is.  I’m studying to work with the most complex organ in the body, meanwhile you’re just going to work with elevators for the rest of your life,” Arya shot back at him.

“Hey, mechanical engineering is not all about elevators, and even if it was, I could really see myself moving up in that world.”

“Did you just?” Arya groaned at the awful pun, “Nevermind, I’m just going to pretend that you never said that; it’s better that way.”

Gendry laughed at her reaction, but didn’t bother with a smart retort.  He was pouring over his notes; from what Arya could decipher it involved a lot of calculus and that was about all she could understand.  Math and cooking were her two true weaknesses.

The walk to HP’s had been a little uncomfortable on her part.  Gendry had strolled along as if he hadn’t blatantly flirted with her and checked her out, meanwhile she was caught up with all the thoughts in her head.  What did he mean by that? Was he trying to hook up with her? If the answer to that question was yes, then she wanted to slap him. But if that wasn’t actually his intention then going at him swinging would be a little bit of an excessive reaction.  Though if that wasn’t his intention, what was it? So that he could get a laugh out of her uncomfortable reaction? If that was what he hoped for, then he was certainly succeeding. That seemed to be the most likely option, Arya thought, and as they arrived at HP’s she decided that didn’t want to give him the reaction that he had hoped for.  So once they had sat down and Gendry got the coffees, she resorted to quipping back and forth, play arguing as per usual.

After a few more minutes of intense studying, Gendry broke the silence, “I’m going to get a refill, assuming you want one too?”

Arya nodded and handed him her empty mug.  He hadn’t needed her to remind him of her drink order when they first arrived, so she figured he definitely wouldn’t need to be told this time.  The voice in the back of her head told her how sweet it was that he remembered her drink order and that he was buying her coffee. The logical side of her brain scoffed at the thought that the bar for being sweet was set as low as remembering drink orders, especially when he was buying her coffee because he owed her a favour.  But once again, the stupid butterflies in her stomach wouldn’t listen, so she tried to distract herself, finally figuring out the different effects of each aphasia.

Gendry soon returned, setting the mug down in front of her. “Your mate said this one’s on the house,” he stated.

“HP pulls through once again!” Arya grinned, looking up to meet HP’s gaze across the cafe to give him a nod of thanks.  When she made eye contact though, he beckoned at her to come over and talk to him, an odd look on his face. “I should uhh, go thank him,” Arya excused herself from the table and headed over to the counter.

“Who’s the bloke?” HP asked when she got there.

“What, Gendry?”

“Well if that’s the name of the hottie that bought you coffee, then yes.”

“He’s just one of my housemates,” Arya explained, rolling her eyes at HP’s description.

“Then why is he buying you coffee?” HP questioned her.

“It’s a long story, let’s just say he owes me a few favours okay?”

“Does that include those of the sexual nature?”

“Fuck HP! No!” Arya raised her voice, drawing the attention of the tables close to them.  On the other side of the cafe though, Gendry remained undisturbed, focussing on his notes.

“Wait, is he gay?” A glint appeared in HP’s eye.

“Not as far as I can tell, but I’ll keep you posted if he starts swinging your way, ok?” Arya could see the look of excitement getting dashed on his face upon hearing the tragic news that Gendry was indeed straight.

“Fine. So this isn’t a date then?”

“No HP, it’s not a date.”

“Well I think that it should be one.” Arya rolled her eyes at his candidness.

“He’s not the kind of guy that dates, he’s the kind of guy that hooks up and doesn’t call in the morning.  Not to mention that I also live with the guy, which would make it really weird. If it helps, just think of him as a study buddy for now, who you probably won’t see again once we’re even.”

“Arya, you are missing out on some prime real estate, I’m just saying.”

“I’m pretty sure that when you start referring to my friends as real estate, it’s my cue to leave.  So thank you for the free coffees, not to mention your absolutely wonderful dating advice, but I’ll see you later HP,” Arya smiled and returned across the cafe to the table where Gendry sat.

“That was a long thank you,” He commented, not looking up.

“The man deserves many thanks, he’s the one providing my fuel to get through every single day.”

Gendry looked up and narrowed his eyes at her, “What, the machine at home isn’t good enough for you?”

“What can I say, I’m a coffee snob,” Arya replied raising both her hands as if admitting he’d caught her red handed.

Gendry laughed, and they went back to studying in silence again. Hours had passed before the sound of the clock tower striking midday disrupted them again.  Upon hearing them, Gendry closed his notebook and looked up, “Well that marks lunchtime for me, so I’m going to head back,” He said, standing up. 

“It’s probably a good idea for me to head back too.  Take a break for a bit, maybe go to the gym after lunch,” Arya agreed.  And with that, Arya found herself retracing the steps they had taken about three hours previously with Gendry at her side. 

“So I was thinking, it’s Eng night at Fortress and I think we both need a break from midterms and what happened yesterday.  What do you think about getting a group together and having some fun tonight?” Gendry asked.

All the faculties at Storms End U ran event nights; sometimes they would be classy affairs like art shows and museum nights, other times they could be complete shitshows, like nights at Fortress, the local trash club.  Entrance would be cheaper and drinks were free for students in the faculty, meaning that a lot of the students had a habit of not remembering the night at all. Eng nights were rumoured to be the worst; a bunch of engineering students finally taking a break from their studying to blow off as much steam at possible in a night was a recipe for disaster.

“Sounds like it could be a good time,” Arya replied, “Except for the fact that I still have to pay full price for getting in and drinks, which means I’m going to end up being your babysitter while you get shitfaced and I can’t afford to.”

“Or you could be my guest and get the same benefits as I do,” Gendry offered.

“Seriously?” That offer sounded almost too good to be true.

“Why not? I’m sure getting very intoxicated with you would be a night to remember, or not remember, depending on how hard your planning on going.  The only condition is that you can’t tell the others, otherwise they’ll think I’m playing favourites or something.”

“Are you trying to imply that I’m not your favourite?” Arya feigned hurt at his comment.

“Nah of course you’re my favourite Ar, I just can’t let the others know that,” He winked at her.  Damn his stupidly attractive winking and flirty comments.

“I guess I have to take you up on your offer then, can’t let the guy who favours me down, now can I?”

“Oi I never said I favoured you, just that you're my favourite in the house!” Gendry raced to clarify, and bumped her side, perfectly timed with her tripping on her own feet to send her sprawling on the pavement. “Oh shit, sorry I didn’t think I pushed you that hard,” He offered her his hand to help her up.  Arya laughed and grabbed his hand, noticing the slight blush in his cheeks as he pulled her up.

“Don’t worry, I managed to trip over my feet at the same time, it’s not your fault.  Besides, I was joking about favouring me, you didn’t have to send me flying to know that you don’t favour anyone.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Gendry questioned.

“Well let’s just say you’re more of a quantity more than quality guy. You’d rather have more one night stands than one long meaningful relationship. That’s not exactly conducive to favouring someone. Well, unless of course you want someone that you could never have and therefore fill the void with copious but meaningless one night stands.”

“You done psychoanalyzing me there, Dr. Stark?” He rolled his eyes.

“Yup that’s about all I’ve got on you for now.”

“Good, I didn’t want to dig back into traumatic childhood memories or anything like that.”

“Yea, you seem like the kind of guy with intense daddy issues, but I didn’t want to be the one to bring it up out of nowhere,” Arya joked.

“Just daddy issues, no mommy ones?” Gendry inquired, raising an eyebrow.

“Maybe a few of those too?” Arya laughed, “I wouldn’t really know, clinical psychology isn’t really my field of expertise, that’s behavioural psych.”

“Well I’d say you have a fairly good radar for it, all things considered,” Gendry laughed, but there was no humour behind it.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

He pointed to himself, “Foster kid. Probably left me with mommy and daddy issues.”

“Wow...” Arya wasn’t usually left speechless, but she didn’t really know what to say to that, “Sorry Gendry, I had no idea,” was all she managed to string together.

“It’s okay, not something I really try and broadcast.  I try not to think about it too much, I’m here now so what’s the point of dwelling on the past?” Gendry avoided eye contact, kicking a stone along the pavement as they walked.  Arya could tell it wasn’t an easy subject for him to bring up, and wondered if he regretting telling her; maybe it had just slipped out.

“Well, I won’t tell anyone, I promise,” Arya told him.

“Thanks.” 

Arya tried to think of what to say next. “I was joking about the daddy issues, you seem like a well adjusted kind of guy” didn’t seem appropriate, and definitely didn’t make for good conversation.  Surprisingly though, it was Gendry who continued the conversation.

“In a funny way though, our house is sorta like my family.  Except I don’t know anyone who’s grown up in a house with six siblings.”

Arya scoffed, “Hey you’re looking at someone who did!” 

Gendry turned, “You have six siblings? I thought you had like four at most.”

“Well I technically have four biological siblings; Robb, Sansa, Bran, and Rickon.  Jon is my half brother, but I hate when people make that clarification. He’s just as much my brother as Robb, Bran, and Rickon are. Which leaves Theon, who’s not biologically related to me whatsoever. I don’t really know the whole story because I was too young at the time, but his dad apparently went off the deep end and my dad agreed to take him in and raise him.”

“So to summarize, you have five brothers?” Gendry laughed, “I feel bad for any guys that you might bring home to meet the family.”

“Honestly, I’ve never had a guy to bring back to them,” Arya admitted.

“You’re not seriously trying to tell me that you have never had a boyfriend, are you?” He seemed shocked at the prospect.

“No, I mean I’ve had boyfriends, but none really serious enough to meet my family.  Besides they had a pretty similar reaction to yours when they found out I have five brothers which usually spelled the end of the relationship.” Arya laughed thinking back to Jaqen’s face when she told him about her whole family.  He had been her last boyfriend, a short lived fling that didn’t even come close to surviving the distance between them when she returned from her gap year.

“I get it, don’t worry, I’ve got commitment issues too, you don’t have to blame your family,” Gendry teased her.

“I do not have commitment issues!” Arya argued, “I’m just waiting for the right guy, and when I meet him, I’ll know.” They turned the corner onto their street; the house was about one hundred metres away.

“That’s what I told myself too, but hey I met the right girl, and she’s off limits, so my commitment issues are the same as ever,” He admitted.

“Hah! I was right then!” Arya exclaimed, “So who is she then? One of your TA’s? Oooh or is it one of your profs? Or does she have a boyfriend, leaving you out in the cold?”

Gendry rolled his eyes at her questions, “Wouldn’t you like to know, but I’m never going to tell you.” They reached the doorstep of the house.

“I’ll get it out of you eventually Waters, I’m very persistent,” Arya pressed on.

Gendry smirked as he opened the front door, “Bring it on Stark, I can take it.”

“I’ll set Lyanna on you to get it out of you,” She threatened. 

He groaned, “Anything but that Ar, please anything but that.”  She laughed as she stepped inside, knowing that Gendry’s secret crush would soon not be so secret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FillerFillerFillerFillerFillerFillerFiller
> 
> ... Yea


	6. Cheers

“Ouch, I think you just put eyeliner in my eye,” Arya complained.

“Whatever you do, don’t rub at it or cry, I will not have my past half hour of work wasted because your eye decides to be a diva,” Shae told her.

Arya wanted to roll her eyes, but couldn’t as she was attacked yet again with some eyeliner.  “Seriously, I need more of this crap on? I’m not going for a late 2000s emo look you know.”

“I promise, you will look great when I’m done with you. For now just remember beauty is pain, and if you don’t sit still or ruin my work, I will put you in more pain than beauty will ok?” Shae smiled sweetly at this declaration.

“Hey Arya have you seen my silver studded adidas sneakers?” Willow asked, walking into the living room where Arya and Shae sat.  The large panelled windows gave great natural light, perfect for doing makeup, or at least that’s what Shae had told her, when she asked for help with her makeup.

“Last I saw them, they were in the closet downstairs, bottom shelf. Though that was a while ago, I don’t know if you’ve worn them since,” Arya offered.

“Thank you! And by the way she looks great Shae!” Willow squealed upon seeing her face.

“Well once I’m done sharpening her eyeliner and doing her lips, she will look even better, trust me.”

“Mmm, I can’t wait to see.  Also, quick question, why are you finally taking up Shae on her offer tonight of all nights? You know that eng nights are always a shitshow,” Willow asked.

“I don’t know, just figured I may as well just to see what I would look like with a full face of makeup on I guess,” Arya stammered, unsure of how to answer this question.

It was a good question too.  Her night out look usually consisted of slapping some sort of foundation or bb cream on, running some mascara through her lashes, and maybe, if she was feeling herself a bit, putting on a lipgloss or lipstick.  Layers of primer, foundation, bronzer, highlighter, and setting powder felt like a heavy second layer of skin, one which she would never usually wear. Shae had offered to do her makeup properly many times, so why agree to it tonight? If she was being honest with herself, it probably had something to do with the fact that Gendry had invited her.  But being honest about her feelings towards Gendry was never going to happen, so she instead opted to believe that it was because she was curious, and her patience had finally run out. 

“So it has nothing to do with an attempt to hook up with some engineering guy? Because I’ll hand it to you, that’s an interesting choice.  I didn’t take quiet nerdy kids that turn into hot messes after three drinks as your type,” Willow laughed.

“They are not my type,” Arya said, while actually being able to roll her eyes since Shae moved on to her lips. “Trust me, I sincerely doubt I will be hooking up with anyone tonight.  And if it looks like I might be, make sure it’s not just drunk me who’s onboard please.”

“To be fair, not all engineering guys are quiet and nerdy, look at Gendry for example,” Shae interjected.

“That’s even worse.  I’d take quiet and nerdy over emotionally unavailable and unfaithful any day,” Willow wrinkled her nose in disgust.

“Oooh who’s emotionally unavailable and unfaithful?” Jaime asked out of nowhere, poking his head around the door.  He was sporting pyjamas, opting to spend the night in watching movies with his girlfriend instead of going out to the club. Lyanna would also not be in attendance, as she was too young to get in, and her fake ID had been taken and cut up at the last club she went to.

“Nobody don’t worry about it,” Arya waved her hand wishing to move on from the subject.

Of course that was the moment that Gendry came down the stairs and walked in to the living room. 

“What are we not trying to worry about?” He asked.

“Just someone that Willow knows who’s emotionally unavailable and unfaithful,” Jaime chirped as he walked out of the living room.

“Sounds like a dickhead.”

“I could not agree with you more,” Willow said enthusiastically.

“Strange, we never seem to agree,” Gendry laughed, seemingly unaware of the joke being at his expense. “Anyways, I was thinking we should leave at 10? The line will take a while, but we should be in by ten thirty then.  Also someone needs to order a cab unless one of you is volunteering to be the DD tonight.”

“Perfect, that leaves me just enough time to do Arya’s hair!” Shae clapped her hands together.

“Nooooo,” Arya groaned.

“I can order the cab,” Margaery called from the kitchen where she was prepping the pre-drinks, overhearing Gendry’s comments, “Actually I should get two, since there’s five of us going.” 

“Thank you!” Gendry called back.

“Well I’m going to go look for my shoes, then we can start drinking and get this night started!” Willow exclaimed.

“Not until I get Arya’s hair done though, so let me go and grab my straightening iron,” Shae argued, springing up, “Give me two minutes to get stuff set up upstairs, and in the meantime don’t move a muscle.”

The two girls departed the living room, leaving Gendry and Arya alone in a slightly awkward silence.

“You look… different,” Gendry commented after a while, cutting through the silence.

“Yeah, I don’t suppose this is really my go to everyday look,” Arya laughed uncomfortably.

“I mean you look good, just not used to seeing you without those bags under your eyes,” he joked.

“I know, I know, but don’t worry they’ll be back after tonight in full force, especially if I’m hungover.”

Gendry gave no response to her comment, letting the atmosphere distill back into that awkward tension.  Arya didn’t even understand why it was there. They had been fine all afternoon, talking and joking around with the others, but when Shae caked a bunch of makeup on her, the situation suddenly turned tense. It made no sense, he’d seen her wear makeup before, though minimal.  She heard Gendry inhale next to her, as if to say something, but no comment was made. Arya decided that she had to break the silence.

“What?” she asked.

“Uhh, what do you mean, what?”

“It sounded like you wanted to say something, but you never did.”

“Oh,” He gave an almost shy laugh, “It’s nothing,”

“Mmm but now you’ve piqued my curiosity, so out with it,” 

“Fine,” Gendry lowered his voice so that no one would overhear, “I was just going to say that I’m not unfaithful.” Arya shot him a confused expression, so he continued, “I know that Willow was talking about me, that I’m emotionally unavailable and unfaithful, but I’m not. If I was actually with someone…” He trailed off.

“Okay… thanks for sharing, I guess?” Once again, Gendry had left her without words.

“Arya! Come upstairs, I’ve got everything set up!” Shae called.

“I’ll uh, see you in a bit,” Arya stated, and set off up the stairs, hoping that she would still have some hair left after Shae was done with her, leaving Gendry on the alone.

“I am so fucking stupid,” he muttered under his breath, “I need a drink.” So he found himself wandering into the kitchen where Margaery was mixing drinks.

“So when exactly did you start liking Arya?” She asked, pouring a shot of vodka into a solo cup.

“What are you talking about?” He tried his best to bluff, but the growing blush on his cheeks gave it away easily.

“You can’t play dumb around me, I always know when someone likes a girl. Plus while I may not have been able to hear exactly what you guys were saying, the sexual tension was so loud I’m surprised the whole house couldn’t hear it,” She smiled sweetly while Gendry grew even more embarrassed. “Here,” She said sliding the solo cup that she just poured over to him, “This might help you explain yourself.”

The vodka burned a little as he took the shot, but it came with the pleasant reminder that he would soon be carefree and completely out of his own head as the night progressed. He cleared his throat, “I’ve liked her since she the day she moved in.  The first time I met her she was with Jon, her brother. I thought he was her boyfriend at first but then I found out he wasn’t, and I was happy for about two seconds till I remember the ‘no dating in the house rule’.”

“I don’t think you should let that rule stop you, just be honest with everyone if you guys are together,” Margaery offered.

“No, because Willow would kill me. She already hates me enough as it is, but if she knew I liked Arya… And if we ever did get together, then it would probably destroy their friendship or something.  Which makes Arya the fucking forbidden fruit of my life.”

“Why does Willow hate you so much?” She asked.

“It’s not important,” he muttered, pushing the cup back towards Margaery as she gave him another shot of vodka.

“Maybe it’s not important, but you’re still going to tell me anyways.  Because I’m now the only person you can talk about any of this with, and therefore I need the whole story.” 

Gendry took the shot before he responded, “Willow has an older sister, Jeyne, who I slept with a few summers ago. It was a one night stand, real casual.  Then a month later I get a text, apparently I got her knocked up or something. I freaked out for a bit, didn’t really know what to do. When I came to my senses and stepped up, I was told not to worry and it wasn’t an issue anymore.”

“Wow,” Margaery was speechless for a second, “That’s a fairly hefty secret you got there. I was expecting something more like you accidentally crashed her car or something.  And you never found out what happened?”

“Nope,” He put his head down on the countertop, “I mean, that could mean anything really.  I don’t even know for sure if it was mine, she was sleeping with other guys around the same time too.”

“Does Arya know any of this?”

“I don’t think so.  I doubt Willow would want to tell her, I don’t think Jeyne is keen on a lot of people finding out either. So don’t mention this to anyone.”

“Don’t worry, my lips are sealed. So you’ve really liked Arya all this time, even when you’ve been with other girls?”

“Yeah. I guess they were a good way to forget for a bit. Plus it was easy to ignore it at the start, but then I guess I really started to catch feelings. Now every time I hang out with her I have to remind myself to act only like a friend. And yesterday really did not help.”

“The rescue you mean?”

“Mmhmm.  It sounds so fucking stupid and cliche but being in a life or death situation with the girl you like really puts things in perspective and makes it almost impossible not to tell her. I’ve been accidentally flirting with her all day.”

“Do you know if she likes you?”

“I don’t think so. Probably just sees me as a friend or something, which is what I’m supposed to see her as, but of course my brain has other ideas.”

“That’s shitty,” Margaery agreed as she slid him another shot, “So if you went for her…”

“It could ruin everything. She could reject me, and that would ruin our friendship. Or it could work out between us, but then Willow and Arya could end up not being friends, and it would make the house weird,” Gendry finished.

“Or, it could work out between the two of you, Willow could get over it, and everyone would be happy.” Margaery interjected.

“That would be unlikely.  And it’s really not worth the risk.”

“I don’t know Waters, if you really do like her then maybe it’s worth that risk. Do you really want her to be the one who got away?”

He rolled his eyes, “I don’t know. Besides why are I am telling you any of this? Seriously I’m not even drunk, I shouldn’t be spilling my secrets to you just yet.”

“It’s because your drunk on love!” She replied sarcastically, “But in all seriousness, I’m a great person to ask about Arya, since I’m the only person in this house who is single and both understands women and wanting to date them. Why you told me all that is a question for you to figure out though.”

“Just do not mention it to anyone please? Any of this at all, just forget we ever had this conversation. I’m just an idiot who couldn’t keep his mouth shut okay?”

“Yeah yeah stop worrying about it. In return though, willing to be my wingman tonight?” Margaery asked hopefully.

“You want me to be your wingman?” Gendry was confused by her offer.

“Yup. I’m sick of sleeping with straight girls who had too much to drink and just want to experiment in college.  So you’re the perfect test; I get to see if their more interested in me or the man candy, which is you. And in return, I can be your wingwoman for the ones who are more interested in you!”

The more Gendry thought about it, it didn’t seem like a bad plan.  Margaery would keep his secrets, and he would be completely distracted from Arya, while picking up some girl to “fill the void” as Arya had described it.  Fuck, he couldn’t even keep her out of his plans to ignore her. Maybe another shot would help with that.

“I’ll do it if you top me up again?” He asked shoving the cup back towards her.

“Jeez I spend so long making an absolutely wonderful jungle juice, and you’re just going straight to the bottle. I’m almost hurt, but that makes a deal,” She said pouring more vodka into his cup.

“Cheers.” And he emptied the cup down his throat again. He would be drinking away his sorrows tonight.

*******

Luckily for Arya, Shae was much more gentle with her hair than she was with her makeup.  Brushing it out to it’s full length, Shae ran some oils through it, before meticulously straightening every strand.  Looking in the mirror, Arya had to admit that Shae had done an amazing job. She almost didn’t recognize herself, but her unique shade of grey eyes stood out, reminding her that no matter how much makeup was caked on her face, her Stark lineage would always show. 

“Now we can get this party started,” Shae said as she finished choking Arya in a cloud of hairspray, “Let’s go downstairs.”  The five of them gathered in the kitchen, and Margaery doled out the drinks. After about an hour of drinking, Arya was feeling tipsy enough and ready to go have a good time. 

“Taxis are here guys!” Margaery exclaimed as the notification popped up on her phone.  Quickly double checking for her phone and wallet Arya walked with the others towards the front door. “I’m starting my night as I mean to go on, so I’m riding with you ladies tonight,” Margaery put her arms over Shae and Willow’s shoulders as they stepped out onto the driveway, walking down to the curbside where the two cars were pulled in. 

Great, Arya thought to herself, more awkward tension between her and Gendry was exactly what she needed right now.  As he opened the door to the car for her, Arya missed the wink that Margaery gave to Gendry, and the look of annoyance that he shot right back at her.  It was going to be an interesting night to say the least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm starting to think I'm just borrowing character names and writing my own set of traits? But I'm having fun doing it that way, so I guess that's just how it's gonna go!


	7. We All Make Mistakes

Arya had absolutely no idea how she ended up on the Storm’s End beach.  The tide was on its way out, leaving behind sand dollars and new shells on the shore line.  The sunrise had been absolutely beautiful, and marked what she guessed was around 6:30, but with no phone or watch on her, it was the only thing that could begin to tell her the time.  She had found herself on the steps of the lifeguard tower, as if drunk Arya had believed she had work the next day and thought that it was best to head there at some point in the early morning hours. She also found that she was wearing Gendry’s jacket, which still smelled of his cologne, an oddly comforting smell. Doing her best to piece together what happened, and where the hell her friends had ended up, she wondered how she had come to wander down to the beach.

Arya remembered getting to the club; they had waited outside in a long line before eventually getting in.  There were a lot of drunk people there, she was soon to become one of them. Then maybe she had danced with some guy? Then Gendry? Then another guy… this guy was significant. Name.. name.. Eric? Nope that wasn’t it. Edric? That was the one! She had left with him, taken a taxi to his place? But it wasn’t a taxi, that was confusing. They had hooked up, but then she had left almost immediately after. She couldn’t recall anything after that.  Maybe the others would have some idea of what happened, and if she got on to her laptop she could track down her phone. The solution, she decided, was to walk home, and so despite her exhaustion and nausea, she got up and began the journey home.

******

8 hours previous:

Surprisingly, the taxi ride had been a lot less painful than Gendry had thought it might be. The drinks had relaxed both of them, making conversation less awkward and much more flowy.  Of course that had its issues too, like when he just so happened to let blatantly flirty comments slip out. Arya always reacted the same though, either laughing or hitting him on the shoulder, the way that friends would.  Because that’s what they were, friends. He just wished that all of him understood that they were only friends, housemates and nothing more. But no matter how many times he reminded himself that she was off limits and didn’t even see him in that way, the flirting seeped through.  Despite this, the ride was amicable, and felt just like hanging with one of his best friends again, the awkwardness of the evening long forgotten. 

When they arrived at the Fortress, Gendry realized just how long the line was.

“You wouldn’t happen to know the bouncer or anyone that could get us past all these people, would you Waters?” Shae asked.

“Unfortunately not.  I knew it would be busy, but not this crazy.”

“Eng nights are the ones where everyone just goes wild, I think the entire student body is looking for that right after midterms,” Margaery explained, “And thus, they all decided to show up here.”

“Well let’s get queuing then,” Gendry muttered as they all trudged to the back of the line. They had been standing there for about ten minutes when he noticed Arya hugging her arms to her chest tightly, while beginning to shiver.  “There is no way you’re cold Stark, you’re from the north!” He laughed at her expense.

“Well in the north, we don’t wear tube tops and jeans with rips in them,” Arya hissed back through her chattering teeth.

“Honestly I don’t think anyone should if you just wind up being this cold.”

“You sound like my mother. I’m so glad you feel it necessary to mock my discomfort instead of doing something about it.”

“Well, if you’re going to be like that, then just consider yourself lucky that I’m giving you this,” Gendry slipped off his jacket and slid it over her shoulders.

“What? No don’t worry it’s fine, a little bit of cold won’t hurt me,” she protested.

“Yeah but the sound of your teeth chattering is really annoying, so take the jacket and get warm. Also a thank you wouldn’t hurt.” He winked at her.

“You take all the fun out of complaining, you know that?” Gendry laughed at that comment, but didn’t press her for a thank you.  Margaery caught his eye and gave him a smirk. If it were just the two of them he would protest her side eye, he was just trying to keep Arya warm after all, not pull some smooth moves on her. But in the group of five, Margaery’s glare won, reminding him that he couldn’t hide from his feelings forever.  Maybe he didn’t need to hide them forever though, just for tonight, and then perhaps the foreseeable future after that until they managed to dissipate.

When they finally reached the front of the queue, Gendry nudged Arya’s back, “Just hang back a bit until the others have paid, then I’ll get you in as my guest.”

Arya was surprised that he still remember the offer from before, which had almost completely slipped her memory. “Right, thanks mate.” She smiled up at him, and his breath caught a little.  Since when did she have the power to make him clam up just by smiling at him?

“Next!” The sound of the bouncer calling them brought him back into reality.

Arya handed her ID to the bouncer while Gendry settled up the cost of their tickets. When she turned to Gendry the ticket money however, he waved her hand away.

“Don’t worry about paying, as I said you are my guest tonight.”

“Really? You’re already giving me all the eng benefits and now you’re paying too?” Arya seemed shocked.

“Just think of it as a days worth of coffee,” He winked at her, “Oh and you might want to wear this to get free drinks,” he grabbed her hand and slipped a band onto her wrist, marvelling at just how slender it was compared to his. “Now let’s go have some fun!” he exclaimed, pushing her gently through the doors.

The sights, smells, and sounds of the nightclub hit him like a tsunami.  The flashing lights and distinct odour of alcohol, sweat, and piss all mixed together, paired with a bass so strong the room seemed to shake, guaranteed they were in the right place. This was Fortress alright, trashiest nightclub in Storm’s End.  While Arya made a beeline for the bar, Gendry knew he had to make good on his deal with Margaery and ventured off to go find her. He didn’t want to see Arya with other guys tonight, and was glad to have the distraction.

It would have been a good plan too, but unfortunately it ended up being a little too good.  Gendry’s presence made the sorting process highly efficient; girls going after him would throw themselves his way, leaving Margaery open to interact with girls who were actually interested.  A few guys tried it with her too, but Gendry would always step back in next to her, driving them away. After only fifteen minutes of trawling for girls with her, she had found a petite blonde who didn’t want anything at all to do with Gendry but everything to do with Margaery.  So he took the hint and wandered off, wondering if had he stayed would it still be considered a cockblock if it was between two girls.

Alternatively, Gendry opted for a different plan to avoid Arya.  He knew that sje had made a beeline for the bar, and was likely still there getting picked up by some guy.  Hoping to avoid having to see any of that, he figured the safest place was the dance floor, where maybe he could be the guy picking up chicks instead. So that was the direction that he headed, straight into the crowd of drunk students stumbling around thinking that they were dancing.  Much to his dismay though, Arya appeared to have the same idea, dancing in the middle of the crowd with some guy. Gendry wished it were possible to scrape that image from his mind. Alcohol was the best answer to this issue, he decided, leaving the dancefloor and heading for the bar. 

After getting the beer he ordered, he decided to wander upstairs.  Usually it was used as a VIP section, with its own private bar and a much more comfortable laid back atmosphere.  However, as the university had booked out the club for the night, there was no special treatment, leaving the second floor open to anyone wanting to escape the claustrophobic mess that was the dancefloor. Leaning on the edge of the railing, Gendry made an attempt to try and find his housemates while sipping on his beer.  The strobe lights and constant movement made it difficult; it was like playing the expert level of Where’s Waldo, but eventually he tracked them down. Willow was at the bar with some guy next to her who seemed to be a little intimidated by her. Next was Margaery, who pressed against a wall having a great makeout session with the blonde from before.  Shae was the hardest to find by far, completely blending in with all the others on the dance floor. 

Of course that left Arya. She was easy for him to spot, on the dance floor, drink in hand, appearing to have the time of her life.  He watched as some guy grabbed her, trying to make her dance with him. At first it seemed like she was willing, but from where Gendry was standing, it appeared that he was getting a little too handsy, and Arya began to move away.  It soon evolved into her swatting his hands away, before turning around and openly confronting him. Gendry was growing more and more enraged at the sight of it. He couldn’t hear the conversation over the music, and there was no chance of reading lips with the strobe lights flashing, but Arya was looking more and more angry by the second.  Time to go intervene, Gendry thought to himself and wondered if the bouncer would catch him knocking this guy out when it was so crowded in there. 

Walking down the stairs, then wading through the crowds of people, it took Gendry a while to reach them, but when he did, Arya’s drink was already over the guys head.

“You’re just a stupid bitch!” the guy yelled.

Gendry could see that Arya’s fists were balled up and figured she was about to take a swing, but before she could, the guy shoved her, and was getting in her face again. Gendry didn’t know that he was about to snap, but suddenly he was seeing red, and fury pumped through his veins.  When he realized what was happening again, he was standing over the guy who was sprawled on the floor with blood all over his face. Taking a few deep breaths, he turned to Arya, who looked shocked and confused, as if wondering where the hell he had come from

“I could have handled it!” Arya yelled at him.

“I know you could have, but I couldn’t handle watching him treat you that way.” Gendry shook his hand in the air, trying to make his knuckles hurt a bit less. 

Arya looked like she was going to protest but quickly changed her tune, “Bouncers incoming!”  She grabbed his arm and pulled him back into the thick of the crowd, trying to blend in. “Just imitate the people around us and dance with me,” she yelled to him, and she suddenly began to grind on him.  It took Gendry a few seconds to even realize what was happening, his hips pressed against her while moving to the beat of the song. If he hadn’t have been so nervous about the bouncers finding him and kicking his ass out of the club, he probably would have enjoyed it more. Despite the fear weighing heavily on his mind though, he had to admit just how amazing it was dancing with her.  Her hips moved perfectly with the rhythm of the song without his hands having to guide her at all. When the beat dropped, he flipped her around to face him, hoping she wouldn’t notice quite how much he was blushing with her body pressed against his.

“Check over my shoulder and see what's happening with the bouncers,” He pulled her even closer and spoke into her ear so she could hear him over the music.

“They’ve grabbed the guy and are pulling him out.  I don’t think they’re looking for you, they don’t seem to be searching around at all.”

Gendry was relieved, “Glad to hear it.”

“I think we should keep this up for a few more minutes though, just to make sure that you’re in the clear.” 

Gendry was not about to argue with that logic if it meant he got to spend more time dancing with her, and so they continued, hips moving to the rhythm of the beat.  He was growing more and more intoxicated by her and the way she moved against him was driving him crazy. It was hard to remember that she was only doing this as a favour to him, wanting to protect her friend.  Looking up for a moment he happened to lock eyes with Willow, who had noticed their whole dirty dancing charade from across the club. He could feel the anger in her stare burning into his head, making him finally come to his senses.

“I think we’re in the clear now. Thanks for covering for me Ar!” He yelled, letting go of her hips.

“Anytime Gen!” She yelled back, pulling away and disappearing into the crowd once again. A sense of emptiness swept over Gendry in her absence, one which he didn’t quite know how to fill. For a while he danced some random girls, who, while being all sexy and attractive, did not have the same allure as Arya did.  Any other night he could have easily taken one of them home, but as time wore on he realized that he simply didn’t want to. Maybe, he thought, he just hadn’t drunk away his feelings enough, and decided that it was perhaps time to visit the bar again.

Stepping off the dance floor, Gendry walked over to the bar, this time grabbing a stool in order to make his stay a little bit longer.  The bartender kept topping up his beer as he sat there, watching crowds of his inebriated classmates stumble around. Once again, eng night had turned into a shit show.  About half an hour had passed when his phone lit up on the bar in front of him.

Arya:  _ Imm going home with this guyyy just so u knoww _

Gendry:  _ How drunk are u? _

Arya:  _ im nottdrinkk _

Gendry:  _ I think u might be _

Arya:  _ oooh he has a chafer _

Gendry:  _ A what? _

Arya:  _ chuafer _

Gendry:  _ chauffeur? _

Arya:  _ yeeeaaaaa _

Gendry:  _ Stay safe ok? _

Arya:  _ I willlll _

Gendry knew she was drunk and that he shouldn’t have let her go off with some guy, but she was already gone. The best he could do was text to make sure she was okay.  Somehow, despite quite a few drinks, he was still plagued by melancholy, knowing that Arya was off hooking up with some other guy that wasn’t him. Usually this was the part where he would find another girl, or drink more, but those seemed to make him feel even more empty inside.  So Willow appearing at the bar beside him was actually a welcome sight.

“Shae and Margaery are both going to make their own way home at some point.  Find Arya and let’s go,” Willow yelled over the somehow even louder than before music.

“Arya’s gone off with some guy, it’s just the two of us.”

“Can we go then?” She yelled impatiently.

“Yeah fine.”

Fighting through all the crowds, they somehow managed to make their way outside to the fresh air.  Gendry could still feel his eardrums pounding in the quiet of the night and hoped that it wouldn’t be leaving any permanent damage.  There was a cab stand out in front of the club, so he and Willow made their way across the street and climbed into one.

“So why the fuck were you dancing with Arya tonight?” Willow cut through the silence between them as they sat there driving along.

“It’s a long story,” Gendry sighed, not wanting to get into it with her.

“I don’t care.  She is my best friend, and if you ever hurt her, you are dead meat I swear to god.” She was definitely furious with him, so Gendry decided to give her the cliffnotes version of things.

“Look there was some guy who was acting like a prick, pushing her around and whatnot. So I decked him. Arya was just trying to help me hide from the bouncers by blending in with the other people dancing. It worked too, they never found me.”  The explanation seemed to help tone Willow’s anger down a little, but he could tell they were still on thin ice. “I know she’s your best friend, but she’s my friend too, I would never want to hurt her or see her get hurt you know.”

“Whatever you say Waters.” She rolled her eyes.

“Seriously? Why do you hate me so much?” He already knew the answer to that question, but maybe by asking it he could find out more.

“I think you know very well why.”

“I’m sorry about your sister you know.”

“Yea well sorry doesn’t change what happened, does it?”

“You know that’s the funny thing really, I was never told what happened.”

“It’s not my place to tell you what happened Gendry.”

“Fine.” He didn’t realize that they had been slowly raising their voices until that point, but now he just felt bad for the bad driver. Toning his voice down till it was quiet he decided to rephrase the question. “Did she terminate the pregnancy?”

Willow gave him a strong look of hatred before responding, “No. It was a miscarriage.” The statement hung in the air a while between them.

“Thank you for telling me,” Gendry said softly after a moment.

“Yea well now you know. I’m never letting you hurt anyone in my life like that again, so stay away from Arya, you hear me?”

Gendry chose not to respond, and so they sat in silence until the taxi pulled up outside their house. Willow stormed out almost immediately, leaving Gendry to pay the fare before heading inside.

Gendry’s phone read 1:30 when he walked through the door, unusually short for a night out.  He walked into the kitchen as Willow disappeared downstairs with a brusque goodnight, leaving him alone to try and figure out his thoughts.

He had liked Arya for a while and it had been getting worse as time wore on, hence bringing home more girls.  But in the past 48 hours it felt like his feelings had been jump started, like a strong current had pulled all the feelings to the surface in the same way it had pulled at him during the rescue.  He couldn’t explain exactly why this had happened though, and that’s what frustrated him the most. 

Looking to his phone for a distraction, he went onto his instagram to look at stories from the night. He clicked on the first one and tapped through them, most of them were from his engineering friends who were at the club just like him.  He began to go through them quickly, until something caught his eye. It was Arya, on Edric Storm’s story. They had shared a few classes together and had ended up following each other on instagram. She was laughing and dancing in the clip, looking happy and carefree as ever. Was Edric the guy who took her home? He clicked out of it, feeling somewhat creepy to be watching his friend through someone else’s story.  Going to the fridge he grabbed a can of ginger ale in an attempt to stay hydrated as he sobered up. His phone let out a chirp as he returned.

Arya:  _ This guuyy is ass _

Arya:  _ Imm cming home _

Gendry:  _ What happened? _

Gendry:  _ Are you ok? _

Arya didn’t text back right away, which wasn’t unexpected if she was calling for a cab. Gendry busied himself by cleaning up the kitchen.  He placed the solo cups into the recycling, and returned all the alcohol to the pantry and fridge, before tipping out the last remaining dregs of the jungle juice and washing the container.  When it was all done 20 minutes had passed, and he still hadn’t heard back from Arya, so he tried texting her again.

Gendry:  _ Are u on ur way back? _

Again Gendry received no immediate response.  Maybe she had decided to stay after all, and wasn’t checking her phone.  He decided if she didn’t text him back in 20 minutes, he would give her a call. So this time he flipped through one of the sports magazines to pass the time, growing a little more concerned with every page flip that she hadn’t texted back.  When half an hour had passed, he tried calling her mobile, but got nothing.

Gendry:  _ Arya im getting really worried where r u? _

Gendry: _ Please text me. _

He had this awful feeling in his stomach, like something bad could have happened.  He decided to message Edric to check the last time that he had seen her.

Gendry:  _ Hey man, when was the last time you saw Arya? _

Edric:  _ She left my place almost an hour ago _

Edric:  _ I was kinda a dick and now she won’t respond to me _

Gendry:  _ Just let me know if you hear from her? _

Edric:  _ Will do man.  _

So he hadn’t seen her in an hour either, that was just great. There was no way he could sleep with this gnawing at him, so he decided to stay up until she returned.  Settling into an armchair in the living room, he flipped on the TV and began to channel surf, soon realizing that nothing good tended to be on at 3am. When the clock hit 4 and he still hadn’t heard back, he texted her again.

Gendry:  _ If your not home by 8 im calling the cops _

Part of him didn’t want to go too overboard.  Arya was very independent and could seemingly get herself out of any situation if she needed to. If her phone had died while staying over at a friends place then he would feel pretty stupid reacting like this.  But if she wasn’t, if something terrible had happened, then he knew he would have wanted to do more. So, Gendry called and texted her again, this time at 5:03, hoping maybe it would get some response.

Gendry:  _ Arya pls text me back if ur ok. _

Sitting in the living room, staring at his phone and the front door hoping that Arya would walk through it at any moment, Gendry somehow found himself drifting off to sleep, and despite knowing it was happening, being completely unable to stop it.

*****

When Arya walked through the front door, the house was silent.  The silence was welcome given the headache that she was nursing, but it was also kind of unnerving. There was definitely no one up, and she began to wonder if anyone was even home.  She was in the process of slipping of her shoes when she heard a faint sort of cry coming from the living room.

“Hello?” She called out, then thought about the fact that that was the exact sort of shit that got people killed in horror movies. Oh well, she thought to herself, better investigate anyways. If it were a serial killer coming for her then she would just have to take him down with some sick martial arts moves which she didn’t know. Walking through to the living room, she saw Gendry slightly slumped in one of the chairs, asleep. He was moving though, shuddering and crying out, clearly in some kind of distress.  Arya knew immediately that he was having a nightmare and moved to try and wake him up.

“Gendry, Gendry!” She shook his shoulders as gently as possible while still trying to make him stir.  When he opened his eyes they were frantic and unsure, and he was struggling to catch his breath. 

“Arya? You were under… the current… just kept pulling,” He stammered out.  

Arya wrapped him in a tight embrace, “Just a dream Gen, I promise it was just a dream.” After a few moments he caught his breath, and returned the hug, pulling Arya into his lap.  The move surprised her, but she was too exhausted to overthink it. If Gendry wanted her there, then she was happy to oblige, especially when she was pressed up against the warmth of his chest.

“Are you ok?” They both asked the question at the same time while releasing the embrace.

“I’m fine, it was just a stupid dream,” Gendry answered first, looking embarrassed that she had seen just how afraid he was.  No matter how stupid he thought they were when he was awake, they were genuine and terrifying when he was asleep. “What happened to you last night though? You texted me saying that he was being an ass and that you were leaving, but never made it home.  I was texting you a bunch Ar, what happened?”

“Well…” Arya hesitated a little, “I don’t know exactly. I left, and I think he may have my phone or maybe I dropped it somewhere.  I think drunk me may have decided to walk home, but I ended up at the guard tower on the beach.”

“You went down to the beach? You could have been swept out or something if you’d have been caught by the tide!”

“I know, but for some reason I woke up on the top step of the guard tower, so I think I knew not to go anywhere near the water. What about you though, why are you here?”

“When you didn’t text back I got worried.  Figured I’d stay up until you got home. Last I checked it was 5, so I think I fell asleep a bit after that.”

“You stayed up until 5am because you were worried about me?”  Arya pulled him into a hug again as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

Gendry shrugged in response, “You know, I’m sort of regretting it now, I’m bloody exhausted, and you seem to be doing just fine.”

“Don’t be fooled, I’m exhausted too. And so fucking hungover. I could fall asleep right here really.” Arya let go of him and twisted a little, her head resting on his shoulder while his arms remained around her waist.

“Me too kiddo,” Gendry said softly, feeling his own eyelids growing heavy.

“Don’t call me kiddo,” She grumbled, but there was no anger behind it, just weariness, and he watched her eyes flutter closed.

“We probably shouldn’t fall asleep here though Ar,” Gendry whispered to her realizing that there was no way he could carry her downstairs to her bed when he was that tired too.

“Mmm,” was the only response he heard from her, followed by soft breathing, telling him that she had fallen asleep in his arms.  He barely registered the explosion of butterflies in his stomach at the knowledge that she was cuddled up with him before dropping off to sleep again himself.


	8. The Morning After

“Oi, you two!” Arya heard someone yell, and then felt the smack of a pillow.  Opening her eyes, she saw Margaery standing in front of her, hands on her hips.  You two? Who else was she talking to? Arya thought to herself, before realizing that she hadn’t just fallen asleep on a chair.  Unless of course, the chairs in their house had magically sprouted arms which wrapped around waists. She had fallen asleep on Gendry… fuck. Gendry began to stir too, and was seemingly confused when he opened his eyes.  “I picked up some breakfast for everyone, it's in the kitchen,” Margaery stated, then turned on her heel and walked out of the living room, leaving Arya and Gendry alone.

He was the first one to break the silence between the two of them, “Good morning again.” 

“Do you know what time it is?”

He checked his phone, “Nearly 10:30.”

“Wow that late. We should probably go get some breakfast,” Arya replied awkwardly.

“Yea…” Gendry agreed, confused as to why she hadn’t gotten up yet.  Then it hit him, and he pulled his arms back from her waist, “Oh sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Arya said, getting up.  He followed her into the kitchen, where Margaery had brought back a whole spread of breakfast food from McDonalds.  They were the only ones in there, but she could hear Margaery yelling upstairs trying to get everyone up. Willow was the first to emerge from the basement. 

“Arya! You made it back in one piece!” She exclaimed seeing her friend.

“Just about, still a little hazy,” Arya laughed awkwardly, wishing she could remember a lot more of her night, and a lot less of her return home. 

“I texted you when I got home but you never responded. I figured you were staying the night or something.”

“Well I haven’t been getting anyone's messages as my phone is currently AWOL so I need to get on my laptop and track it down at some point this morning.  But first I need food, water, and as many advil as I’m allowed to take.”

“Amen to that,” Willow agreed with her.

Heavy footsteps down the stairs marked the upcoming entrance of Lyanna.  She was not at all a morning person, and the way she dragged her feet in the morning definitely expressed that well.  Margaery’s lighter footsteps followed her down, and they both arrived in the kitchen together.

“Great, that’s five of us! Anyone have any clue where either Jaime or Shae is?” Margaery asked.

“Jaime ended up staying with his girlfriend, so I doubt he’ll be back until the afternoon,” Lyanna grumbled, voice still full of sleep.

“Anyone have an idea of how to find Shae?”  The front door slammed giving an answer to her question.

“Shae we’re all in here, I brought back breakfast!” Margaery called to her.

Soon, the six of them were all gathered around the kitchen, eating various hash browns, hotcakes, and breakfast sandwiches; perfect hangover food.

“So did everyone have a good time last night?” Gendry asked, while Arya tried not to make eye contact with him.  Sure, nothing had actually happened between them, they had essentially only slept together just like the night previous, but it still felt awkward.  Did he know that he liked her now? Did Margaery think that something happened between them? And how had she let herself get into this position? All the questions were making her head spin, made worse by the headache that her hangover brought with it.

“I know that I had a good time,” Margaery responded.

“Lucky you.  Last night was a good time, but not so much this morning. Now I’m wondering what I ever saw in that guy,” Shae complained.

“Hey at least you got to go out, some of us were stuck here pirating movies off the internet all evening because they aren’t 18 yet,” Lyanna interjected.

“By some do you mean just one?”

“Yeah yeah whatever.”

“How about you Gendry?” Margaery asked, with an odd twinkle in her eye.

“Well my knuckles are still hurting from that guys face, but apart from that it was decent.”

“Wait it was you who hit that guy?” Margaery asked in shock. “They had to call an ambulance and everything, his face was so fucked up.”

“He had it coming!” Gendry defended himself to her.

“Either way, I would try to avoid his wrath if you ever see him at Fortress again,” Margaery warned him.

“That’s probably a bright idea,” He agreed.

“So,” Margaery turned her attention to Willow and Arya who were currently sharing the last of the pancakes, “How about you ladies?”

“I’ll let you know when I find my phone and remember most of it,” Arya joked, well aware of what Margaery was hoping to get at between her and Gendry. 

“It was a decent night, I called it quits kind of early though,” Willow responded too.

“That was probably a wise decision.  I stayed there till about 2 and it was awful; the stench in there and the amount of people laying on the ground outside unable to get up… I’m surprised the university keeps endorsing these events.  Someone’s going to die of alcohol poisoning at some point,” Margaery commented.

Soon all the food was polished off, and Arya excused herself from the kitchen to grab her laptop and track her phone down.  Bringing it up on the map, she was surprised to find it was in the middle of Queen’s park. Noting down the coordinates on a sticky note, Arya realized it would take far too much time to walk there, and with it being a Sunday the buses would be intermittent and wouldn’t be a great option either.  Both Margaery and Gendry had cars, so she hoped that Margaery would be around to drive her there, avoiding Gendry for as long as possible. 

Going back upstairs to the kitchen, Arya found Margaery alone in the kitchen cleaning up after breakfast.  “Shit I’m sorry Marg, you bring back breakfast for all of us and then we leave you with the cleaning too.”

“Don’t worry about it, at some point I just expect everyone to return the favour,” She laughed. That was the nice thing about Margaery; she was very easygoing.  There was never an issue when it came to taking care of the house or anyone in it, she just got it done, which guilted everyone else into picking up the slack.

“You’re going to hate me for this, but I was hoping to ask for another favour,” Arya continued, “My phone is at Queens park and I need a ride there to get it.”

“Sorry Arya, I wish I could but I have a meeting with my thesis collaborators at 12, and I can’t be late.”

“Don’t worry then, I’m sure I can find another way there,” Arya reassured her.

“Why don’t you ask Gendry?” Margaery asked.

“Umm.. I guess I didn’t want to-” she stammered, not really sure how to answer when Margaery’s yelling cut her off.

“Gendry! Can you take Arya to Queen’s Park to get her phone?!” 

“Yeah, give me ten minutes!”  She heard Gendry call back from upstairs.  She was surprised that they could hear him given that he occupied the loft, two floors above the main level.

“There you go, I got you a ride!” 

“Thanks,” Arya replied halfheartedly, it had not been her intention to spend more time with Gendry. 

With ten minutes to kill, she figured that she would go shower, washing the events of the night away.  It was really a shame that her loofah couldn’t work on her brain as well. Just as she was getting dressed, she heard Gendry call down for her to get her butt moving.  Cue the internal groaning. He had probably figured out that she was beginning to crush on him, and that would definitely make things weird between them. Not to mention that shacking up with your housemate was against house rules and would make things really awkward with everyone else. Why he had agreed to drive her was beyond her, since she figured he would want to avoid her too.

Slipping her t shirt on, she walked up the stairs, ready to face whatever the hell was about to happen.  It appeared that Gendry had showered too, his black hair glistened with water and he had changed clothing. His black V-neck was doing a great job highlighting his muscle definition, and why the hell was she driving herself crazy thinking about that.

“Please tell me you know exactly where your phone is, since I don’t want to be doing a scavenger hunt in the park,” Gendry said upon seeing her.

“Yup, give me your phone and I’ll put it in.” He handed her his phone and Arya input the coordinates onto the map, then produced the directions to get there.

“That was accurate as of fifteen minutes ago, so we better hurry and make sure that no one takes it or moves it in the meantime.”

“Are you telling me to drive fast?” Gendry raised an eyebrow.

Gendry was a good driver, but perhaps a little too good, as it got him in trouble often.  He had the most speeding tickets of anyone in the house, and had nearly had his car impounded on a few occasions.  His knowledge about them probably didn’t help the situation since the legality of the modifications that he made was questionable.  Arya had driven a few times with him and always felt safe, but that didn’t change the fact that he sped a little too much for her liking.

“I’m telling you to drive with urgency, and not get us killed please,” she retorted.

“Yes ma’am whatever you say.” 

They walked out to the driveway and got into his car which was already heating up from the morning sun.  As they pulled away, Arya played with the air conditioning and radio buttons, finding a good station.

“Oh yeah sure, just go and change the music, no need to ask me first,” Gendry said sarcastically.

“Come on, everyone knows that shotgun is the DJ, that’s just the way it goes.”

“Whatever you say Stark.  So any idea how your phone happened to end up in the middle of Queen’s park while you ended up at the beach?”

“I still don’t know. I’m hoping that going back will jog my memory, maybe tell me how I ended up there.”

“Do you remember where Edric’s place is? Maybe he lives close by and you just happened to stumble through there and drop it.” There was an edge to Gendry’s voice, but she couldn’t figure out why it was there.

“No, I barely remember the guy, let alone where he lived,” Arya replied, the paused for a second, “Wait how did you know his name is Edric?”

“You were on his insta story.  When you didn’t come back I messaged him, but he said you had left.”

“Can I see it?”

“Grab my phone.  Password is 3749.”  Arya did just that, logging on to his instagram and replaying Edric Storm’s story.  There she was, drunk out of her mind, dancing and singing very cringely. Realizing that she didn’t even remember what the guy looked like, she clicked on his account. To her horror, the guy looked exactly like Gendry.  Tall and lean with dark hair. Sure they had very different facial features, but overall it was the same look. She had wanted to hook up with someone else in order to ignore Gendry and not think about her feelings towards him. But now this? Arya wondered if he had realized that she had hooked up with his lookalike.  If he did then that was just another nail in her coffin.

“Hmm. Well let’s just say I’m glad that disappears after 24 hours,” She commented aloud.

“Yup.” His tone was clipped like he was angry at her, but she didn’t really know what she had done to annoy him. He then let out a sigh, “Arya can we talk about this morning?”

Instantly feeling her heart rate spike and her palms begin to sweat, Arya blurted out the first thing that came into her head, “I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you.”

“Yeah I know,” he said, “And I didn’t mean to fall asleep as well and not bring you to bed. So it's just the situation.”

“Plus Margaery saw us.”

“Honestly, don’t worry about that. I’ll talk to her, have her know it was nothing. She’s not a gossip and she’ll understand.”

“So let’s just forget it ever happened then,” Arya said quickly, hoping her blush would disappear, or that Gendry wouldn’t notice.

“Fine. Works for me,” he agreed bluntly, the same rumble of anger still there.

Arya stared out the window wondering what to make of the situation.  If they had actually talked about it, she might have admitted her feelings, or may have talked about how all of it came to be. But instead she was defensive and pushed him away. Classic Arya.  Maybe she had hurt his feelings by making it seem like she didn’t trust him or want to talk to him, especially when he’d been looking out for her last night. Why was he making her act like such an idiot?

That was when she noticed a house that look rather familiar.  Arya was going to mention it, see if Gendry knew what street they were on, as if the name might jog her memory, but before she could, he turned into the parking lot for Queens Park. 

“Right, let’s find your phone and get out of here,” Gendry said turning the engine off. 

Having the coordinates made it way easier to find than Arya had ever thought possible.  It was exactly where it said it would be, lying in the grass close to a patch of trees on the west side of the park. Gendry’s phone acted as a GPS, drawing them closer until the point where it was visible.  Arya picked it up, noting the brand new crack down the side of the screen. Turning it over in her hand, memories came rushing back to her.

She couldn’t quite put her finger on what Edric had done, but the familiar house was his, which she had been in the process of storming out of. Marching into the park, he had followed her, trying to make her come back or apologize or something.  So she turned around and threw a rock at him. Except this was drunk Arya, so she had thrown her phone, which she thought was a rock, in his general direction where it missed and hit a tree. The phone going flying had sent a clear message though; back off.  Edric didn’t follow her and she decided that she would go down to the beach to do some thinking and get some breathing room. Arya laughed aloud remembering all this.

“What’s so funny about a cracked screen?” Gendry asked.

“It’s cracked because I threw it at Edric.  I have no idea what he did but I think he deserved it.”

“I’m guessing your aim was a little off if it just ended up in the grass.”

“Drunk Arya doesn’t really play ball.”

“No, I think she much prefers fighting people instead actually,” Gendry said, smiling for probably the first time on their short journey.

“Oi!” She elbowed his side, “The guy in the club had it coming, and Edric was probably being an ass. It’s not my fault that I have to defend myself constantly!”

Gendry rubbed his ribs, “Ouch! You know, I don’t think fighting people is just a drunk Arya thing, its a sober Arya thing too.”

“Yeah, but I’m better at it drunk,” she agreed.

“Well, we’ve got the phone, plus a bonus crack in it, so let’s get back then Rocky.”

“Rocky. Not the worst nickname. A lot better than kiddo, which is what I believe you called me this morning.” They began to walk back to the car, and Arya realized that she forgot to pretend that the morning had never happened.  Thankfully Gendry didn’t comment on the mention and instead went with it.

“In my defence you’re barely five foot tall and were all small and furled up. Kiddo felt very appropriate!” 

“I’m 20, and nearly 21, so I’m not even a teenager, let alone a child,” Arya argued as they got in the car.

“Whatever you say kiddo,” Gendry chuckled.  Arya rolled her eyes at this comment but didn’t bother to argue with him. Instead, she went through all the text messages that she’d been getting.

There were a lot, to say the least.  All the girls had been texting her at various stages of intoxication checking up to make sure she got home okay.  There also happened to be one from Jon who must have finally gotten some signal at the Wall. He was just checking in, now that he had the opportunity to, so she texted him a quick message back, sending her love.  After going through a few DMs on instagram, she finally stumbled across some messages from Edric.

Edric:  _ Im sorry Arya come back _

Edric:  _ I never meant to compare you to your sister in bed. It just sorta slipped out _

Edric:  _ Btw one of your mans is looking for you _

Edric:  _ Ho. _

Arya laughed, “I just found out why I left last night.”

“And why is that?”

“He must have slept with Sansa at some point, because apparently he compared the two of us in bed to my face.”

“I’d say that’s well deserving of being hit by a phone, especially if it happened during the sex.”

“I’m really not trying to remember us screwing around, so I don’t need to know if the comparison was made during or after,” Arya stated, trying to make sure her forgotten memories stayed that way.

“It’s better that way in my experience,” Gendry commented, causing Arya to roll her eyes as she recalled his many… escapades. 

“Oooh now we’re getting to your texts.”

Gendry began to blush a little, “Just remember I was really worried about you,” he said sheepishly.  Reading through them Arya began to get that warm fuzzy feeling inside of her. He really did care about her, and seemed worried for her safety. She appreciated that, paired with the fact that he stayed up until five to wait for her, it showed that he was a genuinely caring guy.  Cue all the butterflies rising in her stomach again as she look across to him driving.

“Thanks for checking in so much,” Arya said.

“Anytime, just don’t keep me up until five in the morning next time okay?” Arya laughed and nodded.

Then it was onto her voicemails which she began to listen to as they pulled into their street.  Surprisingly, her dad had left her one, similar to Jon’s text, where he was just checking in. Of course her family would remember that phones existed the morning after she lost hers.  Gendry parked the car in their driveway right as one from him began to play. 

“Oi you can delete those now I know your not dead,” Gendry stated upon hearing his own voice. They both got out of the car as the message progressed.

“What do you not like the sound of your own voice?” Arya teased him, “Here, let’s hear it again.” 

“No Arya,” He groaned, “Seriously just delete it, or give me your phone and I’ll do it for you.”

“What? Delete these things? I want to keep them forever if my voicemail will let me!”

“Arya!” Gendry lunged for her phone, grabbing it and pressing her up against the car while he wrestled it from her hand, meanwhile she laughed maniacally trying to push him away. When he finally got it from her, he turned the screen so it was facing her. “Annnd deleted, just like that,” he said pressing the trash button.

“You may have deleted it from the phone, but you’ll never delete it from my memory,” she teased him, still pressed up between him and the car.

“Quick, let’s just get you drunk, that might do the trick.”  

Arya laughed, but upon making eye contact with Gendry, realized that he was truly embarrassed to show someone that he cared. 

“Hey, being serious, thank you for caring so much,” Arya said softly, looking up at him. Locking her eyes with his time slowed a little. She knew that he may only care about her as a friend, but she felt differently, he was more than just a friend to her. So she took a risk, maybe a stupid one, she was about to find out.

Closing the space between the two of them, Arya placed her lips on his, grabbing the back of his neck with her hand.  It felt wonderful, but something was wrong. Gendry wasn’t kissing her back, and instead he pushed her away after a moment. “Arya…” he whispered breathlessly, “we can’t…” Arya didn’t need to hear anymore.  Her face tomato red, she ran inside, practically throwing herself down the basement stairs and into her room, slamming the door behind her.

Fuck why had she done that? He obviously didn’t feel the same about her. She knew that he had called after her, but there was no way she could face him again.  The only solution was to spend the rest of the day in hiding, and then maybe the rest of her life. Maybe not the most viable of plans, but it would certainly do the trick, and desperate times call for desperate measures.

******

As he lay in bed that night, Gendry recounted the events of the day, confirming that he was likely one of the most idiotic engineering students ever to exist.  He was so shocked when she had kissed him, it was so out of nowhere that he didn’t even kiss her back. Then he had pushed her away, worried that the others were watching, not because he didn’t want to kiss her. Hell, all he wanted to do was kiss her and hold her, and if he was being honest, other less PG rated things. And of course to make matters worse, he had only gotten out the “we can’t” in “we can’t do this here”, so now Arya thought he was openly rejecting her. He needed to talk to her, needed to explain himself and tell her how he felt about her.  And so he lay there, unable to sleep, praying that he would be able to fix this mess that he created.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end was almost painful for me to write, yikes.  
> Thank you to everyone who has been leaving such nice comments too, helps to keep me motivated!


	9. Got Me in Stitches

Arya was fairly impressed with the extent to which she managed to avoid Gendry.  Waking up earlier than usual and camping out at HP’s until late ensured that they never crossed paths alone, only when the others were there.  This lasted for almost two weeks, until it all came crashing down at family dinner. Or more specifically, that Gendry and Arya were expected to prepare the family dinner together, just the two of them. It wasn’t like she hadn’t pleaded with Shae or Willow to take her place, she absolutely had, but they reminded her that they had all agreed not to switch at the beginning of the year, as to make sure someone didn’t take on too many meal preps.  She had also asked the others if it would be okay to order in food, cutting out the time that she would have to spend alone in the kitchen with him. The answer to this was also no. Despite the fact that no one else knew what had happened between her and Gendry, it sure felt like everyone was conspiring against her. 

So come Thursday morning, Arya finally answered all of his various “can we talk?” texts with one simple message.

Arya:  _ What are we cooking for dinner tomorrow? I’ll get the groceries. _

It wasn’t surprising when he texted back a moment later, but it filled her with dread just to read.

Gendry:  _ Not sure. What did you have in mind? _

She didn’t want to have a goddamn conversation about it. Why couldn’t he have just said homemade pizza or something and just be done? She decided to leave the ball entire in his court.

Arya:  _ I cant cook. You tell me what you can do with me barely helping and Ill buy the ingredients. _

Gendry:  _ or you could buy a rat and hide him under your chef cap and let him control you _

Arya:  _ Not even Ratatouille can help me. Just decide then send me a shopping list ok? _

Gendry:  _ Roast chicken, potato wedges, and roasted veggies. Let me check the pantry to see what you need to buy. _

Gendry:  _ Two whole chickens, 3 lemons, a pack of rosemary, onions, frozen potato wedges, garlic, bell peppers, whole carrots, and some broccoli _

Arya:  _ Anything else Masterchef? _

Gendry:  _ That’s it for now, thanks babe _

Arya:  _ I hate you. _

And she did a little.  He knew how she felt, and yet, even when they weren’t really talking, he found a way to throw in flirty comments. Why had she ever developed feelings for him? She should have known better.  

When the next day rolled around, Arya’s conversation blockade from Gendry was still in place, bar the text conversation. All that was about to change though, as spending two hours in the kitchen together required a bit of communication if they wanted the food to still be edible by the end.  Returning home from an afternoon studying at HP’s, Arya was surprised to find that Gendry had already beat her to the kitchen, and was beginning the meal prep.

“Arya! How nice to finally see you again! There’s an apron in there,” He said as she entered the kitchen, pointing to one of the drawers.

“You got an early start,” Arya mumbled, reaching for the apron and tying it behind her back.

“Well, you have been avoiding me all week, I figured there was a pretty good chance that you wouldn’t help.  Or maybe that you thought stocking the pantry was good enough and that the rest was left to me.”

She couldn't tell if he was trying to guilt trip her or not, so decided not to bother getting angry about his assumptions. “Yeah, but I’m here now. So here’s how this is going to go down. You give me clear instructions as to what I should be doing. Small tasks like chopping and stuff. I’ll do it, and we don’t talk about anything else in the meantime. Clear?”

“While I don’t agree with those terms and conditions, I will give you your first task.” He set a chopping board and peeler on the counter in front of her, “Get three of the large carrots and peel them, then chop them up widthwise, make the slices about half a centimetre thick.”

“Yes chef,” Arya said rolling her eyes and walking into the pantry.  For a while Gendry abided by the rules which she outlined, but it didn’t last for too long. She had just finished peeling all the carrots, when he decided to strike up a conversation.

“So I’m guessing you lost your phone in Queen’s park again and couldn’t respond to any of my texts?” There was no malice to his tone, instead it sounded quite humorous, which surprised Arya, as she figured her ignorance would piss him off eventually.

“Yeah something like that.”

“So how have you been these past two weeks?”

“Fine.”

“Well that’s good.”

“Sure.”

“Arya, I am trying here you know, so I’m a little confused as to why you’re trying so hard to block me out.”

“You know why.”

“Right. So if it bothers you so much that you want to push me away, then maybe we should be talking about it.”

“I don’t want to talk about any of it, and if you want to keep this kitchen civil then you probably shouldn’t push me on that,” Arya threatened, beginning to chop up the last carrot. 

“Come on Arya, work with me here.”

“I made it perfectly clear that I didn’t want to talk at all,” she said, raising her voice, “But no, you just can’t listen can you? So fuck off Gendry. I only want to hear your voice if your giving me another--”

“Onions.”

“What?”

“That’s your next task. Chop up the fucking onions,” Gendry growled. Ah, now she’d pissed him off. As she began to peel them, her stomach began to sink. She felt a little guilty for lashing out at him.  It wasn’t his fault that he didn’t see her in the same way. Gendry had every right to reject her, but couldn’t he give her a little space?

“Sorry,” Arya mumbled a few minutes later, “I shouldn’t have told you to fuck off. You’re just trying to be friendly, but I need space, so just tell me what to do and make this easy on me”

“Arya, come on I can't give you space when you know we need to talk,” Gendry said after a few moments.

“Well, we technically are talking.” Arya retorted.

“That’s not what I mean and you know it.”

“Then what do you mean? Because there is really nothing to talk about.” She began to raise her voice, taking her anger out on the onions that she was chopping.

“Really? Because I want to talk about the fact that you kissed me!” Gendry was exasperated enough to finally say it out loud. 

“Just forget about it! It’s not important okay? It was just a stupid, spur of the moment-- fuck!” Dropping the knife, Arya clenched her left hand in a fist as blood began to run down her arm. 

“What happened?” Gendry asked, confused until he saw her hand, “Oh shit.” He quickly pulled some paper towel off the roll and shoved it into her hand, “How bad is it?”

“Fuck, I really don’t know” She said through a grimace. 

“Let me see it,” he replied, softly grabbing her hand and unfurling it. The cut was a fair size, but it was the depth that worried him, as well as it bleeding profusely. “Shit Arya, I think you’re going to need stitches on that.”  Arya grimaced, trying her best not to cry, but the onion juice in the air and gash in her hand proved to make that challenging. “Jaime!” Gendry yelled, “Can you get down here!” The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs began, and soon Jaime was in the kitchen. 

“What’s up gu-- Oh shit Arya your hand!” Jaime yelped upon seeing the crimson running down her wrist. 

“Yea, someone has gotta take her to the hospital to get stitched up,” Gendry said.

“Margaery is gone, so yours is the only car here, and I can’t drive stick.”

“Well who else is here?”

“Right now, no one. Willow and Shae will both be back really soon, but Margaery and Lyanna will still be a while. Both of them have class until five.”

“Dammit. I can take her but then dinner won’t be ready.”

“Look, I’ll do dinner. Roast chicken is easy, just get her to a hospital quickly, because she looks ready to pass out.” Arya didn’t actually feel like passing out though, which was a shame as then maybe she wouldn’t have been in so much pain. 

“Okay, let’s get going then,” Gendry said, “Wait actually…” He trailed off and grabbed two extra rolls of paper towel. “Wrap your hand as much as you can and I’ll bring the extra roll.  I would really appreciate it if you didn’t bleed all over my car.”

Arya nodded and began to wrap her hand once again, adding more paper towel on top of the already bled through layer, as not to disturb the coagulation process.  When it was fully wrapped, they headed for the car, while Arya tried to keep her arm raised above her head.

“You look like you’re trying to pull a Hermione Granger,” Gendry joked as they got in the car.  Arya tried to laugh, but with the pain that she was in it came out more like a wince. “Also please tell me if your going to pass out, I don’t want to just discover that your unconscious when we reach the hospital.”

“I won’t pass out, don’t worry. Tis but a scratch.”

“Monty Python at a time like this?”

“Monty Python is perfect at a time like this. It makes for a great distraction.”

“Well I don’t have a DVD player in here, so that’s not really an option.  But since your in such a bad way, I suppose I can allow the great privilege of picking the radio station.”

“Oh how kind of you!” She flipped through the channels and finally settled on an alternative radio station. 

“I know, I’m just such a nice guy.”  Arya rolled her eyes at that comment.  Maybe if he was actually a nice guy, he wouldn’t have pushed her to try and talk about something which she didn’t wish to discuss.  In fact, if he hadn’t have gotten her so riled up, maybe she wouldn’t have sliced her hand open and they wouldn’t be in the situation in which they found themselves.  The throbbing in her hand was getting worse, so she sat in silence, trying to focus on managing the pain, rather than engaging in conversation.

When they drew near to the hospital, Gendry followed signs for the emergency room parking lot. “I have no idea how long your going to have to wait, but there is no way I’m sitting there and waiting for three hours,” he said, parking the car. 

“Trust me, if I have to wait three hours to get some stupid stitches in my hand then I’m going to get a needle and thread and do it myself.”

“Well then, let’s get going then kiddo,” He replied, getting out of the car.

“Stop calling me kiddo!”

When they got into the emergency room it was very busy.  Lots of nurses were hurrying around while a variety of patients sat in chairs at what appeared to be various levels of consciousness.  Gendry steered her towards two chairs. “Wait here and I’ll get you checked in. Just save that seat for me please?”

Eventually Gendry returned, “You’re all checked in, though they warned it could be up to a two hour wait.”

“Fuck,” was Arya’s only response, not wanting to sit there bleeding for that long, especially with Gendry. She still wanted to ignore him as much as possible, though she knew it was a little unfair given that he drove her to the hospital, risking her bleeding all over his car, without a second thought. 

“You still feeling ok? Not going to pass out or anything?” He asked her.

“If by okay you mean that I’m hungry, tired, and in pain, then yes, I’m still feeling okay.”

“Glad to hear it.”

Arya didn’t respond and instead began to try and find ways to fill the time mentally.  First she counted all the chairs in the ER; 43, then the number of nurses and doctors around; 12, then the number of people in the ER; 64, giving about a 1:5 ratio of patients to health care professionals.  Finally she resorted to counting the number of ceiling tiles, but she never found out the answer to that, only that there were more than 70, as she ended up falling asleep.

Arya awoke to her name being called by one of the nurses. Lifting her head from where it was resting, she was horrified to find it had been Gendry’s shoulder but couldn’t dwell on that, as he raised his arm to get the nurses attention. When she saw them, she hurried over.

“Miss Stark, looks like we’ve got to get your hand stitched up, if you’d care to follow me. Your boyfriend can join us if you want.”

Arya was quick to the punch, “He’s not my--” she started, but got cut off by Gendry.

“Don’t worry Ar, I’ll come with you for moral support!” As the nurse turned away from them he shot her a wink, while she gave him a murderous look back. They followed her down the corridor, beds on either side with various patients in them.  When they came to the end of it, there were a couple small rooms with stations set up inside of them. Opening the door to one of the rooms, the nurse ushered them in.

“If you’ll just have a seat in here, we’ll get started.  I’m going to apply a topical anesthetic which should numb the area so that it won’t be as painful when I stitch it up.  I just have to ask if your afraid of needles, as sometimes this can cause patients to pass out during the process, which we try to avoid. So any fear of needles or blood?”

“Nope, I just want to get this over and done with,” Arya answered.  The cream that they put on was a little cold, but did a great job with helping take away the pain.

“So how did you happen to come by this nasty cut?” The nurse asked.

“I was chopping onions and the knife slipped.  It was a stupid mistake really, I should have been paying attention to what I was doing.”

“Well don’t worry, you certainly aren’t the only person I’ve seen today with a similar story.  We all get a little distracted sometimes.”

Gendry watched, slightly fascinated as the needle passed through Arya’s skin. Drawing closer, he grabbed Arya’s right hand, the one that wasn’t being stitched up, and held it for support.  Again, the look she gave him threw daggers, but she didn’t bat his hand away, and by the end of the process, she was squeezing it to help cope with the pain.

“Okay, you are all set! In a week or two these will need to be taken out, so call and make an appointment ahead of time.  If they start to itch then come in earlier and we’ll see if we can take them out then. You’ll be getting a bill in the mail in the next few weeks, and you can either pay it off or forward it to your health insurance coverage to put it in as a claim and we can take payment from them. That’s it for now though, and try your best to stop them from getting wet,” The nurse instructed.

“Thank you,” Arya replied, inspecting her hand to see how the sutres looked.

“No problem. Have a nice evening guys.” And with that she breezed out of the room leaving the two of them alone.

“Let’s get home then,” Gendry said, pulling Arya up from the chair and letting go of her hand. “You still feeling okay?”

“Yeah, I just want dinner and my bed.”

“I know, come on, I’ll take you back now,” They walked out of the room, tracing their steps back down the corridor and through the emergency room, eventually reaching the parking lot. They drove home in silence with the radio music filling the void of conversation. It was only when Gendry missed a turn that Arya said anything.

“You missed the street,” Arya stated, confused as to why Gendry hadn’t turned right.

“I know, we’re not going home just yet.”

“Please Gen just take me back. I’m tired and I just want to get dinner.”

“I know, this should be quick okay?”

Arya nodded, not wanting to spend anymore energy protesting, especially when she wasn’t the one driving the car.  She was a little shocked though when they pulled up to the beach. Shooting Gendry a look he replied, “Trust me,” and got out the car.  He had parked down the far end of the beach, where the soft sands ended and the rock flats began. It was one of her favourite places to watch the sunset from or just sit and think for a while, though Gendry didn’t know that, did he?

“I know you’re hungry and tired, but I was hoping we could talk a bit? Without knives or emergency rooms getting involved?” Gendry asked, walking up beside her.

“Okay.” Arya sounded a little nervous, but he was glad that she finally agreed.  As they picked their way over the rock flats, careful to avoid the small puddles of seawater that had collected in the divots, he spoke again.

“I hope this doesn’t sound creepy, but when I was guarding during the summer, I noticed that you spent a lot of time out here, so I figured it was a good place to talk.”

“Maybe if you weren’t a lifeguard it would be, but I guess our job is to technically watch people for a living,” Arya laughed lightly.

“Anyways, if this is the right place to talk then I guess I should get to it,” He took a deep breath, “What happened the other day, when you kissed me, I didn’t want to push you away, I really didn’t. But I had to.”

“It’s okay Gen, you don’t need to explain it to me,” Arya replied sounding sad.

“No, I do need to.  I had to push you away because I thought the others would see and be mad.  We all agreed on the rule of no dating in the house, and I didn’t want anyone to be angry with you, or us, I guess.  I didn’t even know that you felt that way towards me. I’ve liked you for so long I guess I just never thought that you’d ever return my feelings.”

“Wait, what?” Arya couldn’t understand what he was trying to say.

“Okay, you know when we were walking back home, and I said I liked a girl who was off limits? That was you, because we aren’t allowed to be together, as stupidly dramatic as that sounds.”

“I really don’t care about that rule you know,” she said, turning to face him.

“Right but the others might. So no matter how much I want to be with you, everyone else couldn’t know about it. If they’d have seen us together…” He trailed off.

Arya couldn’t help the smile that was fixed to her face and the blush spanning her cheeks. “So what you’re saying,” she started, “is that if I didn’t kiss you at the house, if it had been anywhere else, then you wouldn’t have pushed me away?”

Gendry took a breath, about to reply, when he thought better of it.  Instead, he closed the space between them and placed his hand under her jaw, then leaned down and kissed her.  Arya pulled her arms up and behind his neck, holding him tightly as she deepened the kiss. When they finally broke away they were both grinning.

“Does that answer your question?” he asked.

Arya laughed, “I guess it does.  But a note for the future, don’t tell me that we need to talk when you actually just want to kiss me instead.”

“Mmm I’ll make sure to remember that one,” Gendry replied then drew her in for another kiss. They stood there on the rocks for a while, watching the sun go down, catching up on everything that they hadn’t talked about in two weeks, and yes, lots of kissing too. When the final sliver of sun disappeared below the horizon, they returned back to the car, walking hand in hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmm hope the pacing on this one was okay, I was in a bit of a rush to finish it. I'm currently in the process of packing to move for a couple of months so I don't have much time to write and edit. Didn't want to leave anyone hanging though so here we are.   
> Should have the next update out before the end of the weekend, but with packing and stuff that may end up being a little delayed (I'll try my best)!


	10. Nobody Likes a Secret

The one advantage of having fifteen stitches in your hand, is that no one expects you to do any sort of manual labour.  The bad news is that your housemates will have their revenge as soon as your stitches are taken out. Or at least that was what Arya had discovered upon returning from her second trip to the hospital.  Suddenly she was expected to help Jaime clean up the garden at the end of the season, as well as do lots of washing up and laundry. As much as she wanted to complain that it was unfair, it wasn’t really, so she cracked on with it, content with doing her part.

Plus, having Gendry around was a pretty good bonus too.  Luckily, no one else in the house appeared to have caught on to them yet, and surprisingly there hadn’t even been close calls.  It helped that they could justifiably spend time together anyways; they always used to watch the football together, so continuing that habit was completely natural.  Gendry had slightly adjusted his study habits to match Arya’s, meaning that HP was the only one that knew they were together. Naturally, she had threatened that should anyone find out about their fling, he would be the one to blame, and repercussions would be had.  But once Arya had officially introduced the two of them, HP was fine with letting Gendry studying with her in the evenings after the cafe had closed to everyone else. Of course, this came with the strict instructions that they were not allowed to have sex on any of the tables, a statement which caused both of them to blush furiously.

The truth was that they hadn’t had sex yet, despite neither of them being at all prudish.  It was simply that with Gendry’s history and Arya’s last hookup, building a relationship seemed to be more of a priority than sex, as to differentiate their fling from previous one night stands.  The lack of sex wasn’t what was beginning to bug Arya though, it was a fact that it was still a secret fling. They weren’t secretly dating, or secretly boyfriend and girlfriend, they were just secretly together.  And by that definition, they technically weren’t exclusive either, which if Arya was being honest with herself, made her slightly uneasy. As much as she trusted Gendry, his history worked against him, and she wondered what would happen if he lost interest.

Plus, the more she considered why they were remaining a secret, the less it presented as a big deal. As her and Gendry spent more time together, Arya believed she could get the other housemates to come around to the idea that they were dating. But when she brought this up with Gendry, he insisted that it was a bad idea, and they were doing just fine keeping it all under wraps.  Not wanting to cause a large argument, Arya went along with this, though it was beginning to eat away at her.

Bar the internal conflict about the secrecy of their fling though, Arya was happy to be with him.  Gendry had a nasty habit of constantly making her laugh and smile, even when she didn’t want to. He could calm her down when she was beyond stressed about her neuroscience tests, and she returned the favour when calculus pushed him to the brink of tears. Walking back to the house after studying late, he would point out different constellations and satellites which he knew way too much about.  When the weekend rolled around, Arya took him to the beach to try and teach him to surf, a hobby which she had picked up in Braavos the previous year. Unfortunately with autumn in full swing, and winter approaching there were only a few more weekends to surf before it would grow too cold. So, despite the secrecy, their relationship was flourishing and growing even stronger.

Unfortunately, the issue began to gnaw at Arya, and finally reared its ugly head one night as they were studying at HP’s after hours.  Arya had just finished her case study essay for an early developmental psychology course, when she finally decided to say something. 

“Hey Gen, can we make our relationship official?”

“Hmmm?” He looked up from his textbook, “What do you mean by official?”

“I mean that we tell people, and that we’re boyfriend and girlfriend, you know, exclusive and everything,” Arya explained, but she could already read the defensive look on Gendry’s face.

“That’s a bad idea Ar, how many times do I have to tell you that?”

“You really think that the others would care that much? Come on, the only person that probably wouldn’t be cool with it is Willow, and I can talk to her about it,” Arya pushed.

“Can you please just take no for an answer? It won’t be forever, just until we move out.  Do you really want to get kicked out of the house just because you didn’t want to keep us a secret?”

Arya scoffed, “We would not get kicked out for being together, are you actually being serious right now? And there is no way that I’m waiting until June!”

“All I’m asking is that we don’t tell anyone for a bit, is that so fucking hard?”

“Why? Give me one good reason!”

“I already did!”

“That’s not a good enough reason, I want another one!” They were both shouting now.

“Because I said so!”

“You want to know why I think it is? So that you can still sleep around with all your girls and not feel bad because we’re not technically exclusive! Or maybe it’s that they would reject you if they knew you were with me!” She hadn’t meant to show him her insecurity or her mistrust in him, but she could tell that it had struck a nerve.

“You think that being official would change who I could sleep with? I could still sleep around and cheat on you at any point regardless of who knows about us!”

“That’s fucking great! I’m so glad that your willing to cheat on me whether we’re official or not,” Arya hissed, standing up quickly, sending her chair screeching backwards, “I’m leaving.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it Arya!” 

“Go fuck yourself Gendry,” Arya yelled, and stormed out.

The walk back home was a lonely one, as she hadn’t done it alone in a while. For the past few weeks Gendry was almost always with her.  Stupid fucking Gendry. Telling her he could cheat on her regardless of their status as a couple hurt like hell, and confirmed her worst fears. She knew he probably didn’t mean it, but the fact that he said it in the first place was still rage inducing. The anger still bubbled in her, a heat which she wanted to keep burning inside her for as long as possible, knowing that at some point it would subside into the hurt and sadness that she felt underneath. Stupid fucking psychology giving her way too much knowledge about her emotions. Why couldn’t she just be angry and not have to think about it?

She was grateful when reached the house to not be alone with her thoughts, and could instead retire to bed and stay well clear of Gendry when he eventually returned home too.  Laying in bed that night she replayed the conversation in her mind. He had instantly been defensive, and hadn’t even given her a good explanation as to why. From the get go he was snappy and unwilling, and while Gendry did have a habit of being a stubborn bastard, it was out of character.  Something must be going on, Arya thought to herself. Of course, this made her mind jump to all the worst possibilities, which she did her best to push out of her head in favour of falling asleep. Deciding to revert back to her Gendry avoidance patterns from a few weeks ago, recalling their ability to stop them from crossing paths, Arya set her alarm to wake her up at 6. With that, she slipped off to sleep, her anger still simmering.

*****

When the front door slammed at 6:30, waking Gendry up, he knew that Arya had left the house and would be avoiding him.  Their fight had been explosive, and certainly not his finest moment. Once again they needed to talk, figure the situation out as best as they could.  He didn’t want to lose her, but how could he explain that without revealing the true reason? He couldn’t be the reason that Arya would lose her best friend over.  Turning over in bed, he pressed his head further into his pillow, wishing it could absorb them all and leave him to fall back to sleep. While the pillow didn’t help in the slightest, he eventually did pass out again.

When his alarm sounded at 9, Gendry was pulled back into reality. Getting out of bed he remembered that Arya had already left for the day, which brought him a little relief. How was he supposed to face her, when he didn’t even know what to say to her? After he got dressed, he walked downstairs to the kitchen, only to find Margaery at the counter eating breakfast.

“Morning Gendry,” She chirped.

“G’mornin’” He mumbled back, not in the mood for casual conversation.

“Ooof what happened to you?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re scowling for the first time in weeks. In fact, the last time you seemed this edgy Arya was ignoring you. So what happened?”

“Nothing.”

“Trouble in paradise?” Gendry shot her a look, how did she know that they were together? She had known that he had a crush on Arya but nothing more than that.

“Maybe.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“Not in the slightest.”

“Wonderful, we’re going to be talking about it anyways.  So what happened last night?” Gendry sighed. Margaery could always read everyone so well, and he was no exception. She was also a great confidante and someone who could give him some sound advice.  So once again he found himself pouring his heart out to her, this time over coffee instead of vodka shots. She listened intently and never interrupted until he was finished.

“You are an idiot Waters, I hope someone has told you that.”

“I know, I know. But can you help me with this? Because I really don’t want to lose her.”

“Then tell her the truth, it’s fairly simple.”

“You think I should tell her about what happened with Jeyne? Isn’t that just going to make me seem like an unreliable prick who lied to her?”

“That’s because you are.  But Arya isn’t unreasonable, so if you explain it to her, she’ll listen.  There’s no telling if that will fix you two, or if she’ll hold a grudge or not, but it really is the only option, otherwise you two are doomed.”

“Have I ever told you how much I love your optimism?” Gendry rolled his eyes. 

“Hey, I am an optimistic person. You just backed yourself into a mess, and that’s the best way out. Anyways, I need to get to the library, academia awaits.” And with that, Margaery walked out the kitchen, leaving Gendry feeling almost worse than when he had first woken up.  Telling Arya seemed counterintuitive to the issue, but there was a pretty good chance that Margaery was right. See this was why he liked sleeping around; feelings were never an issue, and there was no risk of falling in love. 

But all that had to be pushed aside for the moment, instead focussing on the day of lectures that he had ahead of him. His priority should have been school, not girls, but as per usual he was getting distracted.

*****

When dinner was finished that evening, Arya went to the living room along with Shae and Lyanna to catch the evening news.  Reports of a convenience store robbery and missing persons report headlined the local news, before it moved on to the news of Westeros. 

“They keep reporting about that stupid train that’s always ‘almost done’ but never actually gets completed,” Lyanna complained.

“I hope it’s done by Christmas. If I could take a high speed train into the capital, then I only have to take one flight home from there, making it so much cheaper,” Arya replied.

“At least you still live on Westeros, if I want to visit home it's a 12 hour flight for me!” Shae interjected.

“That’s still better than having to take the ferry out to Bear Island. I don’t know how many have sunk, but the number is way too damn high up in those seas,” Lyanna retorted.

“Are you guys going to go home for Christmas?” Arya asked.

“No, probably not, it’s a bit too much money and I already went back in the summer,” Shae replied.

“What about you Lyanna?”

“Probably, I don’t really want to spend my first year away from home being without my family on Christmas.”

They continued to watch, commenting on the differents stories and their impacts. After a while, Arya noticed that Gendry had appeared in the doorway.  She had lost interest in the reports once they began the financial segment and appeared to be the only one who had noticed him leaning on the doorframe. Making eye contact, Gendry signalled that he wanted to talk to her outside, accompanied by a silent ‘please’ being mouthed on his lips.  Not wanting to draw attention to him, Arya got up.

“Hey guys, I’ll be back in a minute, just have to log on to the portal to make sure my assignment submitted properly,” She said, coming up with an excuse.

“Ok,” Lyanna responded, but neither her nor Shae looked over to see Gendry standing there.

When they left the living room, Gendry pulled her down to the basement, knowing that Willow wasn’t there and had an evening class. Sitting on the sofa in the common area, he finally said something.

“Look, I know that your avoiding me and don’t want to talk, but I need to tell you the truth.  So you can sit there then walk away when I’m done if you really have nothing to say, but I need you to listen ok?”

“Well get on with it then,” Arya replied impatiently.

“Firstly I’m sorry for implying that I would cheat on you, I didn’t mean to make it sound that way and I was angry and being stupid. I would never, I care too much about you for that. And secondly… secondly there’s a reason that I don’t want the others to know that I haven’t told you because you’re going to look at me differently.  Or hell maybe break up with me on the spot, I don’t know.” Gendry had suddenly taken an large interest in studying his hands, unable to make eye contact with her.

“Just tell me then Gendry,” Arya sighed.

“You know Jeyne, Willow’s sister, she was on your guard team so I probably don’t need to remind you of that fact, but anyways…We never really interacted much because we were on different rotations and towers, but we met at one of the staff BBQ’s and hit it off a bit.  This is going back a few summers ago now, and we ended up hooking up. It was a one night stand, super casual and I didn’t think anything of it. That was, until about a month later when she texted me that she…” He sighed, trying to find the words, “She was pregnant, and said it was mine.  I didn’t even know if that was true, she was hooking up with other guys at the time too, so I sorta freaked out. I ignored it, tried to run from the situation as best as I could, and just pretended that it wasn’t an issue. Eventually I came around, realised that I needed to step up, be responsible… I didn’t want my kid to grow up the same way that I did. But when I tried to, she pushed me away, said it wasn’t an issue anymore.  Willow told me that she ended up miscarrying. And I was there for none of it, never supported her, and never helped. I get the feeling that Willow filled my shoes, and that’s why she hates me so much. If she found out that we were together… I’m worried that she’ll go ballistic. I know for sure that she’ll abhor me even more, but I don’t want to ruin your friendship. She’s your best friend, and that’s not worth losing over some guy, even if that guy is me, I can’t condone it.  I wanted to keep us a secret so that I didn’t have to tell you any of this, and to protect you and your friend,” He finished.

Arya sat there speechless for a second, not quite knowing how to respond to all that. Eventually, she realized that she didn’t have to, and got up to leave.  Reaching the stairs, she turned back around to see Gendry sitting there on the sofa, head in his hands.

“Thank you for telling me Gen,” She said softly, then walked up the stairs.

His confession gave her so much to think about.  It made so much sense, explaining both why there was so much tension between him and Willow, and why he had been so hesitant to tell the others. It was a huge secret to carry around with her there making it worse.  To a certain extent she was more angry with him, leaving a girl he knocked up to fend for herself made her blood boil. But he had come back, and he had been younger at the time, less mature. Stepping up had to count for something right, even if it took a while? It wasn’t just that though, it was that he understood the fact that she didn’t want to talk about it, didn’t force her to bring her feelings to the surface, and instead sat there and beared it all.  She toyed with these thoughts in bed that night, and throughout her lectures the next day. Eventually deciding that his actions were forgivable, but only if he could prove that he had changed. The cheating comments meant nothing to her at this point; they had been said in anger and after antagonism; the real issue at hand was the future of their relationship.

Unfortunately, she reached this conclusion at one in the morning.  Not being a very patient person, Arya decided to shoot him a text.

Arya:  _ U still awake? _

Surprisingly she received a response almost immediately from him.

Gendry:  _ Yea. U ok? _

Arya:  _ Im coming up _

Gendry:  _ What? _

Arya never read the last text from Gendry though, as she padded silently up the stairs, being careful not to wake anyone or leave any evidence of her trip to Gendry’s room.  Unfortunately, this trip involved three flights of stairs, as his bedroom was actually the loft space, providing even more opportunities to step on a creaky floorboard and wake everyone up.  The door to his room was slightly ajar, so Arya slipped in, closing it softly behind her. Despite him saying that he was awake, Gendry was in bed, appearing as if he was making an attempt to fall asleep.  She sat down on the unoccupied side of the bed, the dip in the mattress causing Gendry to roll over and see her for the first time.

“What are you doing here Ar?” He asked in a tired voice.

“I need to ask you something.  If the same thing happened to me, as it did to Jeyne, what would you do?”

“I don’t know, I’d support you in whatever decision you make, but I can’t give you specifics as to how. I promise I would never run away though, I would never ignore you or pretend that nothing was wrong, I’m not that guy anymore.”

“So if I told you I was pregnant right now?”

“Then I would advise you to call Edric, because we’ve never had sex.”

“Trick question, don’t worry,” Arya said, laying down next to him.

“Ar, what are you doing here at 1am?”

“I guess I'm... Well I’m saying that I’m alright with not telling the others, I get it now. But that comes with one condition; we’re exclusive, like boyfriend and girlfriend.”

“Done,” Gendry smiled curling his arm around her waist, “I don’t want any other girl anyways.” Arya drew closer to him, grinning at his comment and pressing her face into his chest. After a while, Gendry sighed, “I really wish things were easier between us. I want to be with you, and I want the world to know it.”

“Careful what you wish for big guy, do you really want my five brothers coming after you?”

He laughed, “On second thought, maybe I am okay with keeping you all to myself for the time being.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't think I would ever be capable of writing 30000 words but here we are. Leaving in three days so idk when the next update will come... May finish it at an airport, who knows.


	11. Have You Heard?

For the first time in a while, Arya wasn’t surprised when she woke up in the arms of some guy.  Gendry was already awake, giving her an odd look.

“What? Was I drooling or something?” She asked, suddenly self conscious.

“Nah, you just look a lot younger when you’re asleep is all, when you’re all relaxed.”

“Well you would too if it weren’t for all that scruff,” Arya replied, running her hand through the stubble that had appeared overnight.

“Don’t you like the rugged man that just woke up look?” He smirked at her.

“Maybe I do like it just a little.”

“Just a bit hmm?” Gendry asked drawing his face closer to hers.

“I suppose it is a little sexy,” she admitted.

“Thought so,” he said, then brought his lips to hers.

Arya was pleasantly surprised by his lack of morning breath and deepened the kiss. A crash sounded from downstairs making them jump, and they broke apart.  “I’m okay!” A voice called out, but Arya couldn’t tell if it was Lyanna or Shae.

“You know, we’re going to have to wait until they’re all gone before you sneak out of my room,” Gendry commented.

“I could just make a dash for it, and hope none of them see me.”

“Is it really worth the risk of us being found out though?”

“I suppose not. How do you think we should pass the time then?”

“Oh, I’ve got a few ideas.” He pulled Arya close again, and picked up where they had left off.

“How many of these ideas of yours involve taking our clothes off?” She asked, breaking away from his lips for a moment. 

“Hmm, that would have to be all of them,” Gendry replied, tugging on the bottom of her shirt, while Arya laughed and began to kiss him again.

*****

“How can we still hear them?” Willow groaned, “They’re like two floors away!”

Margaery laughed, “It’s not like this is the first time you’ve heard him with some girl, and it probably won’t even be the last.”

“But they’ve been at it for like half and hour!”

“Well at least you know how long he can last then,” Margaery teased.

“Ewww, I really don’t want to think about that. Why did you even have to bring that up?”

“Hey, you were the one who commented on how long it lasted!”

“I’ve got half a mind to go upstairs and drag whichever slut he’s doing out of there, this is ridiculous.  I didn’t even know that he went out last night, so I’m not sure how he got her in the house.”

“That my friend, is the wonder of Tinder, or whatever online app he uses. But besides, it would be rude to interrupt their--” A cry from upstairs cut Margaery off, and Willow rolled her eyes, “--fun.”

“That’s it, I’m going to interrupt it,” She threatened.

“Come on, let the guy have some fun.  To be fair, it’s been a long time since he brought a girl around. Let’s just get out of here, go and grab a coffee or something.  What’s that place that Arya is always going on about?”

“HP’s, I think. I gotta be in class for 10 though,” Willow warned her.

“Perfect! Bring your books and whatnot, and we’ll get you a coffee before class. It will be my treat!” Margaery grabbed on to her hand and pulled her out of the kitchen.

*****

Gendry and Arya had just finished when they heard the front door slam shut. Her breath was still heavy, and they were both cuddled up in a sort of post-sex haze.

“I’ve got to admit Ar, that was probably the best sex I’ve ever had,” Gendry stammered out.

“Same here,” was all Arya could really reply. She had enjoyed every moment of it, but perhaps this was the best part, where she could just lay there in a stupor, enjoying all the after effects of amazing sex, “I absolutely loved that,” she added.

“And I love you,” Gendry replied.

It was apparent by the shocked look on his face that the phrase had just slipped out, and Arya could see him trying to find some words to explain it.  That statement would usually make all of her commitment issues rise to the surface and cause her run for the hills. But laying there with him, tangled up, naked underneath the covers, and everything in the world feeling right for just that moment, Arya knew that she did too. 

“Sorry…” Gendry began to stammer, but she cut him off.

“I love you too Gen.”

He breathed a sigh of relief and the smiled, “You had me scared there for a moment.”

“Well it is my job to keep you on your toes.  Speaking of, I should probably get out of here given that no one is home now,” Arya said, beginning to push the covers away.

“Or, we could make use of an empty house,” Gendry offered slyly.

“I think not lover boy. Come on, help me find my shorts,” she replied, but he had other plans. Pulling the covers back on to them, he wrapped his arms around her waist and held her to him.  “Seriously Waters?” she groaned.

“I want to cuddle with my girlfriend for a bit, what’s so wrong with that?”

Arya sighed, giving in, “You’re lucky I love you,” she replied and nestled into his chest.

“I really am love,” Gendry said quietly, pressing his lips to her forehead as they tangled up together once again.

 

*****

If she was being honest, Margaery was a little annoyed that Arya and Gendry were so blatantly going at it when other people were still in the house.  That didn’t mean that she wanted Willow to catch them though, and so she decided that a distraction was necessary. Coffee wasn’t just a distraction though, it also gave her the chance to pick Willow’s brain and discovery what was really going on.

“So is there a reason that you dislike Gendry so much?” Margaery asked, setting Willow’s latte down in front of her.

“Who said I disliked him?” Willow retorted.

“It’s abundantly clear that you’ve got issues with him, so spill, what’s going on?”

“Look…” She took a deep breath, “It’s pretty complicated, bad history and stuff.”

“So it has nothing to do with harbouring a massive crush on him or anything like that?” Margaery pressed.

“What? No, absolutely not. Yuck, that would just be wrong!” The sheer shock of the proposition seemed to make her reaction genuine, so Margaery knew that she was telling the truth.

“Then why are you so hostile towards him?”

“He messed around with my sister, and with everything that happened, now she hates him, so I suppose that’s one of the main reasons,” Willow admitted.  Of course, Margaery already knew the story, at least from Gendry’s perspective, so she didn’t press her for more on what happened between them.

“Is that the only reason? Hating him by proxy because of your sister?”

“Well no.. I think he’s a bit of a pig anyways. Plus, he was hitting on Arya a while ago and that was driving me crazy.”

“Why is that?”

“Because I have to protect her from him. Stop him from using her like every other girl. She’s my best friend, so it’s my job.” 

Margaery could tell that there was something more that she wasn’t saying, so she pried slightly more, intent on gaging her reaction. “Ah okay, that makes sense.  For a second there, I thought you were going to say that you actually have a massive crush on Arya,” she joked, ‘But I guess not everyone is gay like me.” It was the blush that took hold on Willow’s cheeks gave it away, “Oh my god, you totally do!”

“What? No!” Willow exclaimed, but Margaery’s laser like gaze pulled the truth out of her, and she sighed, “I don’t really.  Not anymore at least.”

“And there I was thinking that you were straight!” Margaery grinned at her.

“I’m not gay though… I don’t really know what I am actually, I just sorta like who I like I guess, doesn’t matter if its a guy or a girl, but I’m not sure how I should define it.”

“And that is completely fine sweetie. There’s no rush to figure it all out. Does Arya know?”

“No. Nobody really knows because I haven’t been with any girls, so there’s never been a time where I had to address it. And besides, I did like Arya for a while, but not anymore, that’s all in the past. So it’s not about me being jealous about her seeing guys, I’m fine with that, I just don’t want Gendry messing around with her.” Willow looked down at her watch which read 9:55. “I should be getting to class now, thanks for the latte.” Standing up from the table she picked up her bookbag. 

“No problem, I’m glad we had the opportunity to have this little chat,” Margaery replied smiling at her.

“Yeah me too. Do me a favour though, and don’t mention it to anyone? I don’t know if I’m really ready to deal with any of this yet,” Willow asked, slightly timid.

“Of course, I would never say anything to anyone! But Willow, if you ever want to trying anything, you know experiment a bit, all you have to do is knock on my door,” Margaery offered, giving her a wink.

Willow blushed fiercely at that comment, and nearly ran out the door, making Margaery laugh as she sat there and finished her coffee.  She wouldn’t have guessed it, but now she knew the whole story. It was odd, being the one the in the house that knew all the secrets. She would never use any of them against her housemates, but still, it really did give her a lot of power.  She toyed with that thought for a while, in the same way that Willow toyed with the thought about her offer for the rest of the day. 

*****

When Margaery crossed paths with Gendry that evening in the kitchen, she figured that she should warn him.

“Did you have a nice day?” She asked innocently as he poured himself a glass of milk.

“Uhh yeah, it was alright,” He responded, a little taken back by the question as they rarely swapped small talk.

“Just alright? From what I heard this morning it was more than alright.”

Gendry blushed, “Sorry about that.”

“Hey, I’m only mentioning it because other people aren’t so forgiving, namely Willow, who was going to walk in on you two just to interrupt and make you shut up. Now, she thought it was just some girl that you picked up online, but we both know that’s not true. So I distracted her, but next time I may not be here to do that.”

“Sorry, yeah I’ll make sure that we’re more discrete. Thanks for the distraction, and for letting me know too.”

“Hey, what are friends for. Besides, it sounded like Arya was having the time of her life, and based off her last encounter with Edric, she needs some good sex!”

Gendry groaned, turning red again, “Can we please not talk about my girlfriend’s sex life?”

“Fine.  Have a good rest of your evening,” she said, and walked upstairs to her room. Opening the door, she was taken back to find Willow sitting on her bed, playing on her phone.

“Hey,” She said closing the door behind her.

“Hi,” Willow responded, blushing a little.

“What’s up?”

“I was wondering if you could… I don’t know… Can I take you up on your offer from before?”

“Of course you can!” She crossed the room and sat on the bed next to her, “Are you sure you’re ready for this though?”

“Well I thought about it all day, and figured that I have to give it a try at least,” Willow replied, drawing closer to her.

“Just let me know if at any point your uncomfortable.  This is supposed to be fun, so just relax okay?” Margaery could sense her nervousness. Willow nodded, and leaned in to kiss her, which she happily obliged to.  Without breaking their lips apart Margaery pressed her down onto the bed and deepened the kiss, causing Willow to moan.

“There’s just one more thing though,” she said pulling away for a moment, “we have to be really, really quiet.”

“Okay,” Willow whispered back with a glint in her eye.

“Let’s get started then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah this chapter wasn't really Gendrya centric sorry about that. Also its gonna be a fairly stand alone chapter, and I won't revisit Margaery/Willow for a while (But I promise there is a method to my madness, just bear with me). As this is my first work I'm probably not gonna be writing explicit sex scenes (sorry to disappoint anyone?) but it will be mentioned. 
> 
> Side note, I just finished travelling so hopefully I'll post the next update faster than this one!


	12. Home Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ~Mild sexual stuff at the beginning just warning y'all~

A week or so later, Arya was in the kitchen drying dishes when she felt someone come up behind her, giving her ass a squeeze.

“Oi,” she turned around, “this is a public space, which means you can look but you can’t touch,” She halfheartedly pushed Gendry away.

“Yeah, but is it really public space if we’re the only ones here? No one else is going to be home for a while you know,” He stepped closer to her, once again finding her ass with his hand. His voice was low and edgy, a tone he reserved primarily for when he wanted to take her clothes off. 

“Is that so?” Arya asked, pressing herself up against him, “And what do you propose we do with all this privacy?” She could feel him growing harder against her, which made her smirk, knowing the effect that she was having on him.

“Why don’t I just show you instead?” Gendry pressed his lips to hers, gently at first, then growing much more passionate. His one hand squeezed at her ass, while the other was underneath her jaw, somehow pulling her even deeper into the kiss. Arya meanwhile, was balling up his hair in her hands as they kissed, trying her best to not let out the moans that would show just how intoxicating he was to her.  Both of his hands then travelled to her ass, and he lifted her up, setting her down on the counter as Arya wrapped her legs around his waist. With both hands free, Gendry slipped them under her shirt, cupping her breasts and causing her to moan as they continued to make out. She began to grind into his hips, making what she wanted crystal clear. He pulled his hands away from her breasts and undid the button on her shorts, slowly working them down her legs, careful not to break his lips away from hers. 

“You take an item off me, I take an item off you,” Arya said breathlessly, and tugged on the hem of his shirt.  Gendry chuckled and helped her to pull the shirt over his head, dropping it on the floor next to them. He pressed his hips into hers again, and began to focus on her neck, kissing and sucking at it as she continued to grind into him.

Arya moaned, “Try not to leave any hick--”

“WHAT THE FUCK?!”  Gendry and Arya immediately tore away from each other, half in shock and half with dread, and turned to face Willow who was standing in the doorway of the kitchen. “I TOLD YOU TO STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER!” Her eyes were blazing with anger at Gendry.

“Willow I can explain,” Arya pleaded with her friend, “Just calm down a second and let’s talk about this.” 

“I’ve seen enough.  And by the way we prepare food on that counter, that is so disgusting,” she hissed back, “Just wait until I tell the others, and get him kicked out.” With that, Willow turned around and stormed off.

“Wait!” Arya called to her, but the only response she got was the front door slamming shut.

“I’m so sorry, I thought we were alone,” Gendry apologized almost immediately.  

“Yeah well you should have checked and been more careful,” she replied coldly.

“Are you okay?”

“No, I’m not okay! What are we going to do? She’s my closest friend and she happened to walk in on me practically having sex with the one person that she hates, no offense. I don’t know how the fuck I’m supposed to make that better Gen!”

“I’m sorry Ar, I really am,” he replied, picking his shirt up off the floor and putting it on again. He handed Arya her shorts and lifted her down from the counter.

“How do I fix this?” She asked after she had pulled them on.

“Maybe text her?” He offered.

“You really think that’s going to change anything?” Arya growled at him.

“No, but I think it’s a good place to start, okay?” Gendry wrapped his arms around her, but she remained stiff with anger and didn’t return the embrace. “I promise that I will do everything I can to make this better.  She can’t stay mad at you forever,” He whispered and kissed the top of her head.

Arya relaxed a little and returned the hug, but quickly broke away. “I need to text her now then, before she starts thinking about this too much.”

“Are you sure she doesn’t just want space right now?”

“I don’t think so, she’s not like that. And for the meantime you should probably keep a low profile, I don’t want to make things worse,” Arya added beginning to walk away.

“Wait where are you going?”

“I think I know where she’s heading.”

*****

The weather had cooled down now, and Arya was regretting her decision to wear shorts.  Of course that wasn’t even close to her biggest regret of the day, so she tried not to dwell on it.  All of her texts to Willow had gone unanswered as she walked, meaning that she was up a creek without a paddle if her guess was wrong.  Luckily though, best friends tend to have fairly good instincts about this sort of thing. When she arrived at the beach however, Arya was a little dismayed to find it almost empty, spare a few couples walking around hand in hand.

She was so sure that Willow would be there, either on the rock flats or by the waters edge, but there was no sign of her.  The wind reminded Arya why the beach was so empty, the colder temperatures were beginning to hit, driving everyone inside. “Inside,” Arya thought to herself, “Bingo.”  The last time she had been on the steps to the guard tower was when she woke up there, more than a month previous, before any of this drama had ever happened. The door was slightly ajar when she got to the top, confirming her suspicion.

“Hey, I think I need some first aid,” Arya called pushing the door open.  Inside was covered in dust having been out of commission for almost three months, but everything still looked the same, as long as she ignored her friend scowling at her from the deck. “Yeah, I think I may have hurt my friendship, didn’t know if you had a bandage in your first aid kit for that?”

“You really think I want to joke around?” Willow replied angrily.

“No, but I don’t know how else to approach this, so that’s the best I have.” She crossed the room and sat in the other chair on the deck.  Willow didn’t respond to that, so they sat in uncomfortable silence for a while. Though the quiet was killing her, Arya figured it wasn’t her place to cut through it, and that she would say something when she felt ready to.  Apparently, she felt ready to ten minutes later, much to Arya’s impatience.

“Please tell me that what I saw was just an impromptu hook up,” Willow broke her silence.

“Why would that make you feel better than the alternative?”

“Because then I don’t have to hate you, I only have to hate him.”

“Not sure how you reached that conclusion to be honest. I know that you probably feel betrayed, but that doesn’t mean you have to hate either of us.”

Willow laughed but there was no humour behind it, just quiet simmering anger. “How long?” she asked.

“About a month,” Arya replied hesitantly, waiting to be hit with another wave of anger.

Surprisingly it never came though, and instead Willow’s voiced cracked with hurt rather than rage. “Why Arya? You know he’s bad news. He’s shallow and unfaithful and a complete manwhore. You could do so much better than him and you know it.”

“He’s not like that, not once you get to know him. You’ve had a grudge against him since day one, but if you gave him even half a chance you’d realize that Gendry is not a bad guy,” Arya pleaded with her friend.

“You only think that because he’s lying to you! That’s all he does; lie and cheat to get what he wants, and when you need him, he’ll just disappear!” The anger in her voice had returned.

“Willow, Gendry isn’t like that, not with me at least.”

“Not with you? He’s like that with everyone, making every girl think that she’s special, and then poof, he’s gone. Just ask my sister! Oh wait, you wouldn’t know to, because he probably never told you about that did he?”

“He told me about Jeyne,” Arya said quietly, trying not to match her friend’s anger.

“You know what he did to her and you still stand by him?” Willow scoffed, “Are you fucking delusional? How can you take his side?!”

“I’m not taking his side! It was wrong of him to run but he’s changed now. He would never let that happen again, he was just a kid who fucked up!”

“Then Jeyne was just a kid too, but she had to go through all of it alone!” Willow yelled.

“I know that it wasn’t fair, and I know that Gendry is the one to blame, but he’s not that guy anymore Willow, I can promise you that.”

She looked at Arya and shook her head. “You know what? I don’t think he’s changed, but I know for sure that you have.  Ever since school began again you’ve been different. I thought that it was school, what with it being your final year and all, but now I know the truth.”

“That’s not fair Willow. We weren’t even together at the beginning of the year, so how could it be all because of Gendry?”

“We used to talk about everything.  Best friends we were. Now it just feels like a cheap phrase, like the label is all that’s left between us.  Even when you did that rescue, we barely talked about any of it, and instead you turned to him. What about me, Arya, what did I do to make you forget about our friendship?”

“It’s not like that,” Arya sighed, “I know things have been different and weird between us, but that doesn’t mean I care about you any less. I want to make this right, just tell me how I can make things up to you.”

“I really don’t think you can Arya. I think it’s best if we just go our separate ways.”

“I thought friends were forever, that no matter what happened between us you would always have my back. But now you’re breaking up with me like we were a couple, come on we’re friends Willow!” Arya couldn’t keep the hurt from her voice.

“Maybe at one point I wished we had been,” Willow replied quietly standing up.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re smart Arya you can figure it out. Just like you should be smart enough to figure out that Gendry is not the right guy for you. So much has changed in my life and you haven’t been there for any of it. So now I’m giving you a choice, me or him. But just remember which one of us has constantly had your back and which one knocked up a girl and then left.”  And with that, Willow was gone, leaving Arya to process everything that she had just said.

After sitting there for a while, she knew there was only one thing she could do.  Unlocking her phone, she opened her contacts list and scrolled down a fair way before hitting the call button.  The phone rang three times before someone picked it up.

“Arya?” A girl’s voice crackled through the speaker.

“Hey Sansa…  I really need your help.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter I know, but it's pretty packed full of drama. Hopefully that keeps it interesting for you guys, let me know if you're getting bored or something idk.
> 
> Working long days tomorrow and over the weekend, so not sure when I'll update next but if its a short chapter like this one it won't be too long.


	13. Majority Rule

“For someone who tends to avoid all boy drama, you’ve certainly managed to make a mess,” Sansa laughed sipping on her coffee.

“Nothing about this is funny Sansa,” Arya groaned.  She had just finished recounting everything that had happened between her, Gendry, and Willow, desperate for some sort of advice to get her out of the mess that she had made.

“Well firstly, I just want to double check that Willow doesn’t have a point. It wouldn’t be the first time that one of us Stark ladies tried to convince ourselves that a guy isn’t as bad as the people around us tell us he is. Is Gendry who you want to think he is?” Sansa asked.

“I promise you he is.  Hell, you can meet him if you want and you’d say the same thing.  It's just that Willow holds a grudge and refuses to see him in any sort of positive light.” 

“Well, there’s no real easy solution then. Your friends should want you to be happy, and if your happy with Gendry, I don’t think that Willow should be getting in the way of that.  And she definitely shouldn’t be giving you ultimatums, that’s not fair to you at all. But she’s also your best friend, and I’ve met her before, she’s not unreasonable, so I think she must really be hurting to act this way.”

“Yeah, no kidding. What she mentioned before she left, about wishing we were a couple at some point, I keep doubling back to that. I had no idea she did, and still have no idea why she brought it up, she never even told me that she likes girls,” Arya sighed, trying to puzzle it all out.

“Oh, that one’s fairly easy to understand!” Sansa exclaimed, “At some point she was likely harbouring feelings for you, but didn’t say anything as not to ruin your friendship.  She may not like you in the same way anymore, but by getting together with Gendry, you essentially picked the ‘emotionally unavailable and unfaithful asshole’ over her,” Sansa gestured in air quotations. 

“But he’s my boyfriend and she’s my best friend,” Arya responded, confused.

“Okay think about it this way.  Remember your ex Ned? Imagine seeing him with another girl right after you broke up with him.  Sure, you didn’t have feelings for him romantically anymore, but wouldn’t you have felt a little hurt, wondered if she was better than you?”

“Oh.” Arya understood now, “So what am I supposed to do, even if Gendry and I weren’t together I’m straight?”

“The way I see it, you need to be working two seperate fronts.  The first needs to be apologetic but firm. Willow is obviously feeling hurt, betrayed, and most likely lonely.  Validate her emotions, but only apologize for what you should actually be sorry for, don’t just suck up to her. And secondly, she needs to come around to Gendry more.  Maybe she’ll never like him, but she can’t hate his guts forever.”

“Right, so how do I achieve both of those things?”

“Hey don’t look at me, you’re the psychology student, you tell me how to validate emotions and whatnot! I’m just here for the masterplan,” Sansa retorted, taking another sip from her coffee.

“Guess I better work on that then,” Arya grumbled, wishing that there was just a button she could press to make things right again.

“You really like him don’t you?” Sansa pried.

“Who?”

“The mailman. Who do you think I’m talking about? Gendry, jeez!”

“Oh, uh yeah,” Arya began to blush. Despite recounting the tale of their romance to Sansa, she had kept it to bare bones details, leaving out all the emotionally and gushy bits, opting for the sparknotes version of things. “I guess… I love him, and he loves me.”

“I never thought I would see the day! My baby sister, in love for the first time!” Sansa exclaimed.  Arya rolled her eyes, though she had a point. It was nowhere near her first relationship but she had never felt this way towards any of the other ones.  Everything with Gendry just clicked, there was no other way to explain it really.

“Keep your voice down, I don’t want everyone knowing I’ve gone all soft,” Arya kicked her sister underneath the table.

“Ouch! Speaking of everyone knowing, have you told everyone else that you’re living with yet?”

“Not yet but it's a matter of time before Willow lets it slip.  She’ll probably try and get him kicked out at family dinner tonight.”

“Then my advice is to tell them before she can construe it in the worst possible light. Make sure that they’re all on your side, or at least don’t have it out for Gendry.”

“Yeah,” Arya sighed, “I’ll work on that I guess. We were hoping to bring it up at the right time, but I suppose this forces our hand a bit.”

“Mmmhm. Well, I’ve got to get going, but this was a nice chat Arya,” Sansa said, collecting her handbag from beside her seat.

“Yeah, thanks for your help.”

“I better be meeting this Gendry soon though.  You should bring him back to Winterfell at Christmas, I’m sure mum and dad would love to meet him!”

Arya laughed, “I hadn’t even considered it but maybe. In the meantime…” she opened a photo on her phone, “This is him. So if you see him around don’t you dare flirt with him.”

“Oh my god Arya, he’s bloody gorgeous! Look at you go!”

“Thanks Sans. Have a nice day.” As her sister left, Arya couldn’t help but smile at the photo on her phone. It was the two of them just after they had finished surfing, half peeled out of their wetsuits and both grinning.  He was pulling her into his waist, six pack on full display, with his dark hair running wild from the salt water. Locking her phone, she stood up to head back to the house, running the conversations that she was going to have to have with Gendry, and then with everyone else in her mind, but HP beckoned her over. 

“What’s cooking good looking?” He asked when she got over to the counter.

“Gah, all sorts of drama,” Arya responded.

“Did everyone else find out about you and hotcakes?”

“Not sure yet, but the one person who really didn’t need to find out did, and now its all impending doom and shit.”

“Well hopefully it will all work itself out. And if it doesn’t, I’ve got all the coffee you could ever need to figure it out. Plus, if even espressos aren’t strong enough, I’ve got some bottles in the back that may be even better.”

“Thanks buddy,” Arya sighed.

“Chin up Ar, just remember you’ve got the man candy by your side!”

“Yeah yeah, life's not all about boys you know,” she chided him.

“Maybe, but the sexy parts definitely are. Anyways I’ve got a customer, so good luck sweetie!”

*****

Arya had just finished briefing Gendry on how they would break the news to the others when Jaime called everyone for dinner.  Almost instantly Arya realized she had no appetite, and was feeling sick to her stomach with nerves. The talk had to go well, she couldn’t lose Gendry or her room over this, she thought to herself. Spacing out for a minute, she wondered when her feelings had become so intense for Gendry.  She was infamous for being able to walk away from relationships, for never investing all of her feelings in them. But with Gendry it was different, she couldn’t lose him apparently, and that scared her a little.

“Come on Ar, let's go face the music,” Gendry grabbed her hand, pulling her out of the small thought spiral that was beginning in her mind.

“I’m nervous Gen,” she admitted as they walked to the dining room together.

“I know, but no matter what, you’ll still have me at the end of this, okay?” He squeezed her hand and let go, in an effort to hide their relationship for the last time.

Jaime and Shae had gone all out on dinner, grilling up steaks with mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, salad, and garlic bread. Arya took her usual seat at the end of the table, but Willow, who usually sat to her right, had taken the head of the table, and was glaring at her across the spread of food.  Gendry took Willow's spot, and grabbed her hand under the table. His palm was sweaty and he was jogging his leg, giving away just how nervous he was, mirroring her internal emotions. 

“Alright guys, dig in!” Jaime said, finally sitting down at the table.  Arya wondered if anyone else was feeling the tension in the room, though if they were, Jaime, Shae, Margaery, and Lyanna certainly weren’t acting any different because of it.  Once everyone had finished serving themselves and began to eat Jaime called the family meeting to order.

“Okay guys, I figured we’d start this meeting by talking about school. Everyone except Margaery has winter exams coming up, so just be aware of other people sleeping if your up studying late, the usual deal.  Also, I’m thinking that we should start bulk cooking, I know it’s hard to find the time to make sure you’re eating right when your stressed for exams, so if you are making a meal, do more than one so that other people can help themselves. I’m thinking just do an honour system; for every meal you take of someone else’s make sure you make up for it by cooking an extra portion so that someone else can eat.  That was it stays fair and won’t get too expensive for one person, sounds good?” There were echoes of okays and nods around the table. “Second item of business is the winter weather. We don’t usually get much snow down here, but this house has no shovels or deicing salt. If any of us see snow in the forecast go out and buy some right away before everyone else in Storms End realizes they don’t have them either. We can settle up costs later or get the landlord to cover it, so don’t worry about the money, just make sure we have the equipment.  And that’s all that I’ve got, so if anyone else has something to bring up?” Jaime finished.

Arya took a deep breath, she could see Willow opening her mouth to say something, and she realized it was now or never.

“I have an announcement to make,” her voice quivered, and the six pairs of eyes that jumped on to her certainly didn’t help. Completely forgetting the carefully laid out plan from earlier, Arya realized that she had no idea what to say next. Thankfully, Gendry cut in.

“Actually we have an announcement to make,” taking her hand, he held it on top of the table, clear for everyone to see, “Arya and I are dating.”

Reading their faces, Arya could see a bit of shock and confusion, so she quickly jumped in. “We know it’s against the rules, but it just sort of happened this way, and it doesn’t feel right lying to you guys about it.  So if there’s some sort of punishment, we’ll take it, and if you guys want to talk about it, we’re happy to. But you can’t Romeo and Juliet this thing and outlaw us being together.”

Willow was scowling at her from across the table, and was the first one to speak. “Well you said it yourself, it’s against the rules, no one is allowed to be dating in this house.  So one of you needs to move out. Probably should be Gendry given that it’s easier to list a loft space than a half occupied basement apartment.”

“Woah hand on a second, we don’t need to jump straight to kicking anyone out Willow,” Jaime interjected.

“They broke the rules, and that rule was made for a reason.  If they break it, it sets a precedent, so either of them moving out is the only solution,” She argued back.

“Willow has a point, but--” Shae began.

“See Shae agrees,” Willow interrupted.

“Okay. Let’s put it down to a vote then. Gendry and Arya, you guys can’t vote for obvious reasons, and majority wins, so whether for or against, at least three people need to agree. Everyone against either Arya or Gendry moving out, raise your hand." Much to Arya’s relief everyone except for Willow raised their hand. She noticed Willow glaring at Margaery as if trying to convince her to change her mind but she never wavered.

“Right, that’s settled then. They can both stay,” Jaime concluded.

“Thanks guys,” Gendry exhaled, letting out a bit of the stress that had been pent up inside.

“There will have to be rules though.  That rule was put in place to stop anyone from getting hurt or being uncomfortable, so there’s no point in punishment unless your relationship causes that. So if you two break up, none of us take sides and you’re not allowed to take it out on anyone else in the house, just be mature about it.”

“Keep the PDA to a minimum too,” Shae added, “I don’t want to be watching TV while you two are practically having sex on the couch beside me.”  Arya could feel herself blushing at that statement.

“And if you two are going to fight, do it outside, I don’t need to hear any lovers quarrels while I’m trying to do homework,” Lyanna interjected.

“I think those are fair rules.  Can you guys agree to those?” Jaime asked.

“Yeah, of course,” Arya replied, trying not to show her happiness too much that things were actually working out well.

“If it starts becoming an issue, someone will have to go,” Jaime warned, “But most of us don’t want that, so don’t force us to kick anyone out okay?”

“All good,” Gendry responded, “We’ll play by those rules no problem man.”

“In that case, congrats you two!” Looking around, everyone, bar Willow, seemed happy for them, and it felt like the weight of the world had finally been lifted off of Arya’s shoulders.  This also caused her appetite to kick back in, and the steak in front of her was looking even tastier than before. Wolfing it down, the conversation shifted to Shae’s upcoming art show which explored major historical events of the 20th century.  When supper was over and a group effort was made to get everything cleaned up, the group retired to the family room for a movie night.

Gendry sat in the arm chair that they had slept together in those many weeks ago, before they were even together.  Arya sat in his lap and rested her head on his chest.

“Oi! What did we say about PDA you two!” Shae joked, launching a pillow at them.

“You said no sex on the couch while you were in the room, but you didn’t say anything about no sex in the armchair,” Gendry shot back, catching the pillow and returning fire, before kissing Arya on the cheek.

“Ewww let’s just pick a movie already,” Shae complained as Jaime flicked through Netflix.

“Fine, I’m putting on Baby Driver.  No complaints from anyone either, the music scoring is too good to miss out.” Shae looked like she was going to protest, but thought better of it.  Turning off the light, Lyanna noted that both Willow and Margaery were missing, but didn’t bother bringing it up.

As the movie began, Gendry leaned down bringing his lips close to Arya’s ear. “I think that went well love, we’re out of the woods for now,” he whispered. Arya nodded in agreement, and he kissed her temple before she tucked her head back into his chest with a sigh of contentment.  For the first time in her life, she was head over heels in love with someone, and it felt more wonderful than she ever could have imagined.

*****

“Why didn’t you back me up in there?” Willow asked Margaery angrily.

“What, you think that because we have a thing going on I’m going to blindly support you in everything?” Margaery shot back.

“No, but I could have used your support there.”

“Wait you want my support to kick a dating couple out of the house? Don’t you find that a little ironic given our relationship?”

“Well we’re not dating.”

“I know, but I would think the point of that rule is targeting romantic relationships no matter how official they are.”

“Look I just wanted some support!”

“And I’m not going to support you on your witch hunt.  I know you’ve got a grudge against him but maybe it’s time to let that go since its been what, a few years? Arya is supposed to be your friend and yet you’re trying to tear her relationship apart even though its making her happy.  Why can’t you just let her be happy? Even if it's with someone you don’t like, you’re her friend, and you should support her. Now get out of my room Willow.” Margaery had lost her patience.

“Fine.” She walked over to the door and opened it before turning around, “You didn’t seem shocked when they admitted it. Did you know they were together?”

“Yes I did.  And maybe if you were paying attention to your friend you would have too.” Margaery crossed the room and closed the door, leaving Willow out in the hallway. She knew that Willow was hurting, and she wanted to support her, but a witch hunt going after Gendry and Arya was never something that she would condone.  Hopefully tough love would help Willow come around and wouldn’t push her further away. Truth be told, she really did like the other girl, but this needed to be addressed before anything else happened between them. Settling down at her desk, she opened up an essay she was marking for the English 101 course which she was TA-ing, and pushed all thoughts of Willow, Gendry, and Arya out of her head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Promise Willow's character will get more likeable from here... people are complicated and don't always act the way that we want them to, but everyone has their reasons.
> 
> It was snowing this afternoon here what the actual fuck Canada


	14. A Broken Suitcase

Unfortunately with her upcoming neuroscience exam, Arya had little time to celebrate her official and now public relationship with Gendry.  Instead, the weekend was devoted to long hours of studying brain structure and chemistry, while Gendry focused on applied fluid mechanics. Willow had yet to speak a word to them after her attempt to throw him out, which Arya was slightly thankful for, as it prevented them from having another row. This all changed Sunday evening though, when she was taking a study break in the basement and beginning to pack for Winterfell. 

Due to her chronically messy bedroom, there was no space to pack her case inside the room, instead dragging it into the main area, where Willow sat painting her nails. Arya did her best to ignore her and not provoke any arguments, opting to say nothing instead. Unfortunately, while throwing clothes out of her room into the general vicinity of her suitcase, a shirt went off course, and nearly landed on Willow.

“Oi, watch it! I’ve got wet nail polish on here!” She yelled at her.

“Sorry, didn’t mean for it to end up over there,” Arya apologized.

“Well maybe if you weren’t so messy, you could do this in your room, instead of out here where I’m just trying to do a manicure,” Willow snapped.

“I said I was sorry,” she grumbled in response.

“Yeah well it seems like you’re saying sorry to me an awful lot these days, and yet I’m still not accepting all your apologies.”

“Maybe you should be then! Or maybe you owe me one for trying to get Gendry kicked out of the house!” Arya wasn’t going to sit around and take it anymore. She had tried to be apologetic and understanding, and when that didn’t work she gave her space and tried not to be antagonistic.  But Arya was not a doormat to be walked all over, and she wasn’t going to take it anymore.

“He should be kicked out! The less time you spend with him the better! If it had worked, then you should have thanked me,” Willow spat.

“I would never thank you for trying to break my relationship up you bitch!”

“Oh I’m the bitch am I? That’s funny, because you’re the one who’s dating an absolute dickhead, and despite all my best efforts to be a good friend and protect you from him, you hook up with him anyways and pretend like I don’t exist. You’re the bitch Arya, because you’re the bad friend!”

“He is not a dickhead!  And if you think that this is just about Gendry then you’re wrong.  You’ve been awful to me, and can’t even acknowledge it!” Arya kicked her suitcase closed, which banged shut with an awful noise.  Bending down to inspect the damage, Willow laid into her once again.

“No, this is all about Gendry, because he’s the problem here. If he weren’t around, everything between us would never have happened, and we’d still be best friends. So if you want things to go back to how they were, then remove the problem, it’s that simple.”

“I’m not breaking up with him just because you tell me to!” It appeared the locking mechanism had broken on her suitcase, meaning it couldn’t be sealed shut, and therefore was of little use to Arya. It was the last thing she needed to have happen. With all the pressure of exams and war going on between her and Willow, the thought of going home to Winterfell was a welcome one.  But now her case was broken, as if to take away the last thing that she was banking on and looking forward to, especially as she didn’t have an extra one. Fuck it, she thought to herself, fuck it all.

“Fine then it's obvious that your siding with him and not me.  That’s your choice Arya, so now you get to deal with the consequences, enjoy them.”

“You know what? I don’t have to deal with this. I don’t have to put up with you freaking out on me because of an old grudge you have against my boyfriend. Just fuck off Willow!” Kicking her suitcase again, Arya stormed up the stairs from the basement. The last time she saw Gendry he was in the living room studying, so she hoped that he was still there.  When she got to the doorway, she could see him sprawled out on the sofa, notes surrounding him and deep in concentration.

I doubt that he heard our fight, Arya thought to herself.  It was fascinating how entrenched Gendry could get in his work, as if the rest of the world was dead to him. She could see the profile of his face too, the look of concentration that was on it, and his slightly messy hair from running his hands through it in frustration.  Arya liked the look though, and it brought a smile to her face to remember that this fine piece of real estate (as HP had referred to him) was hers. Unfortunately, this all to quickly reminded her of the fight that she had just stormed out of with Willow, souring her feelings almost instantly.  She felt raw with emotion and realized with a pang that she didn’t want Gendry to see her like this; she wanted to be alone. The lump in her throat was growing, and her eyes were getting scratchy, it was definitely time to find somewhere private where no one would find her. Of course this was the moment when Gendry broke his concentration however and looked to the doorway to see her standing there. 

“Hey, what’s wrong Ar?” He asked reading the expression on her face.  She would feel bad just walking away, and figured he would likely go after her to find out what was going on. So instead, she sat down beside him on the sofa, taking a deep breath and hope to keep herself together.

“Everything. Willow still hates me, I’m probably going to fail this neuroscience exam tomorrow, and my suitcase just fucking broke.” She buried her head in her hands, trying to stop the flow of tears that threatened to fall.

“I’m sure everything will be fine, you’ve studied all weekend for this exam, and you’re smart, just have a little faith in yourself,” Gendry tried to console her, but it was clear that it wasn’t working.

“No! Nothing is going to be okay! I can’t fucking do any of this anymore!” And with that the dams opened.  Gendry had never seen Arya cry, not even when she had slashed her hand open, so this was completely new territory for him.

“Arya it’s okay, don’t get upset,” He whispered putting his arm around her waist. Apparently this was the wrong thing to do though as she shoved his arm away and pulled herself into a ball.

“You have no fucking clue how it feels. Don’t tell me not to get upset!” She yelled.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry.” He grimaced at the way she just pushed him away, replacing her sadness immediately with anger directed towards him.  He didn’t hold it against her at any length, but it hurt knowing that she didn’t trust him enough with her feelings when she was upset. Trying a new approach he decided to completely flip the script.

“I can help you fix your suitcase you know, take one thing off that list that’s bugging you,” Gendry offered.

“Can you fix everything that happened with Willow?” She snapped back at him. Obviously that wasn’t the approach he should take either.  Meanwhile Arya seemed to be growing more distressed, her shoulders heaving with the sobs that she was doing her best to conceal from him.  Unable to stomach her sadness without doing anything for any longer, Gendry opted for the fuck it approach. In one smooth movement, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled the ball of Arya into his chest. As he suspected, she wasn’t a fan of this tactic either, but he decided to run with it anyways.

“Get the fuck off me!” Arya cried, trying to wriggle her way out.

“Nope.  Not until your feeling a bit better.”

“Seriously Gen!” She kept struggling.

“I know this is awful Ar, and everything is stressful and pushing you to the edge. And I know that I can’t change anything or make it better, but I can be here for you, and I’m going to be. So keep struggling if you want but I’m not letting go until your feeling even just a little bit better,” He said softly.  This seemed to do the trick, as she finally stopped wriggling around, and pressed her face into his chest, still not letting him see her cry. He kissed the top of her head and waited, not wanting to say anything else until Arya was ready to talk again.

After a while she pulled away from him, and wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she sniffed.

“Don’t be sorry Ar. I really wish I could do more to help, I really do, but this is the best that I’ve got. Unless of course you want me to get you out of that neuroscience final.”

She smiled at that, a weak smile, but a smile nonetheless. “And how do you propose to do that?”

“Oh that’s easy.  Say that one of your grandparents died, and then photoshop a newspaper obituary to match your last name and the loved ones left behind, and send that as proof.”

“You really think that would work?”

“To be honest I have no idea.  All my teachers in high school knew I was a foster kid so dead family members were never really an option. Plus, I’ve never actually tried it in university. But hey, if you’re actually considering it then I’ll vouch for you 100%.” Arya laughed at this, then grew solemn again. 

“I’m sorry Gen, I forgot about that.”

“Don’t worry about it. That was a while ago now, and not something that I like to remember either.” He gave her a slightly sad smile.

“You should come to Winterfell for Christmas with me,” Arya said suddenly.

“Uh, you sure that your family would be okay with that? I don’t want to intrude or anything.”

“No, it would be fine. Sansa suggested it actually, and you’d be the first boyfriend of mine that my mum would meet, so that would probably make her happy too.”

“Wait, would I be meeting your five brothers too? Is this just a trap to try and get me killed?”

Arya laughed, “Maybe, who knows. But if you don’t have big plans for Christmas you should come along.”

“I think I’ll have to take you up on that offer,” Gendry smiled and pulled her into an even tighter hug. “We’re going to get through this, I promise.”

“I know, I’m just stressed,” She sighed.

“Well it’s getting late, maybe just get some rest for now. No point in showing up to an exam exhausted, that’s a recipe for disaster,” he suggested.

“Mmm good idea,” Arya replied slipping down from his chest, and laying her head across his thighs. “Wake me up when you’re going to bed.”

So Gendry sat there, Arya’s head in his lap, for a few hours, reading through all his notes while stroking her hair. She had fallen asleep a long time ago, a relief to Gendry as he had never seen her that upset before.  He never thought he’d wish for angry Arya, but quite frankly her fury was much easier to manage than her distress. Between school and the issues with Willow she had become completely emotionally drained, and Gendry wished he could help her deal with it, all the while knowing that there wasn’t much he could do.

His reading was interrupted by the sound of a scoff, and he looked up to find Willow in the doorway, about to step out. 

“Oi, wait a second,” He whispered yelled after her.

“What do you want?” She turned.

“Keep your voice down, Arya’s asleep. I just want to talk, if you’ll let me.”

“Fine. You’ve got two minutes.” Willow went to sit down in the chair across from them, perched on the edge of her seat and ready to walk out at any moment.

“I don’t think I can change the fact that you hate me. I don’t have a time machine, and I can’t go back and change everything that happened. So if you’re not ready to let go of that grudge, that’s your deal, I said I was sorry and tried my best to make things right.  The one thing that I can be sure of though, is that it’s not Arya’s deal. She is trying to be the best friend that she can be to you, and all your doing is taking out your anger with me on her. That’s not fair, and we both know it, so don’t pretend otherwise.”

“I’m not trying to take shit out on her, I’m trying to protect her from you. All you’re going to do is hurt her, just like you did with Jeyne,” Willow huffed.

“I’m not the one who’s hurting her Willow, you are. She just wants to be happy and you’re the one standing in the way of that right now. I know I hurt your sister, but I would never do that again.  Hell, I knew it was wrong then, and yeah maybe it did take me awhile to figure it out, but I stepped up. I never got that chance to prove I was better than running away, and believe it or not that hurt me.  Jeyne never told me anything, and it killed me to think that my kid was dead because I didn’t get my shit together,” Gendry confessed.

Willow looked confused, “Jeyne said you didn’t care, that you never even talked to her after she told you.”

“I did. I swear to god I would have done anything to help when I came back.  But I was too late, and I have to live with that. So you can keep on hating me, that’s your choice, but don’t hate Arya, and don’t get in the way of her happiness.” Willow was quiet for a moment, taking in the impact of his words before she spoke again.

“Okay.  But if you ever hurt Arya, I’m--”

“I won’t. I love her, and I don’t want that to change.”

“You don’t deserve her, you know that?”

“I know.”

“Then I’ll talk to her tomorrow, try to straighten things out as best as I can.”

“Thanks,” Gendry was slightly stunned that she had come around so easily, especially after holding her grudge so fiercely.

Willow stood up from the armchair, “I still don’t like you Waters.”

“I know, I don’t expect you to change your opinion of me just like that.”

“Goodnight then,” and with that, she walked out of the room, leaving Gendry alone with a sleeping Arya.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small explanation of the ending here: Willow held a strong grudge because she thought that Gendry had walked away, never offered support, and never apologized, leaving Jeyne alone. So it's understandable why she hated him so much and wanted to protect Arya from a similar fate (even if she goes overboard with it). Now that she's been told differently it changes a lot- keep in mind Arya had justified forgiving him because he did eventually step up but acknowledged that it took him too long. Willow had also never considered the impact that it had on Gendry, only the impact that it had on her sister. She isn't unreasonable, just has a lot of complicated feelings.
> 
> Other side notes:  
> Probably going to be wrapping this story up soon; I don't want to drag it out for too long. I was considering writing Christmas in Winterfell and then ending it after that (probably would do an epilogue set at a much later time too). If y'all want it to be longer let me know, otherwise I'll begin to set up an ending in the next couple of chapters so that it comes to a more satisfying close.  
> Also now that I'm back working full time I will try and update once or twice a week but no guarantees unfortunately.  
> Let me know what ya think!


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